Grief, Hate, and Madness
by dantesdarkqueen
Summary: Grief becomes self-loathing. Self-loathing becomes hate. Hate becomes madness... It's a race against time as Zack and Co. work to find Akalara before it's too late, and an ex-girlfriend has her revenge. Formerly "Meet the Parents." MysticSpiritus' AU.
1. Breaking the News

**Summary: **Zack's a playboy, and noted ladies' man. His parents despair of him ever finding a nice girl and settling down. So what will their reaction be when he introduces them to his fiance? Set in MysticSpiritus' AU.

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Father Sabastien, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it?

**Queen's Quornor: **I should be working on a paper about "Paradise Lost" and "Gulliver's Travels" right now, but I just can't get the creative juices flowing. I mean, they're boring, and very hard to read! Well, "Paradise Lost" is, anyway; "Gulliver's Travels" is just plain boring. So, I figured I'd get one worry out of the way and work on the other thing that has been bugging me all day, namely this idea. I know Akalara's not the most popular of the Next-Gen Turks, but she's still a very demanding muse. Zack is, too. Drama queens. Maybe if I work on this, I'll actually be able to get my effin' paper done. Also, I'm not entirely sure what these things are called. You know, the special feature phone companies came up with a few years back that lets callers listen to a song instead of the 'ring ring'? That's what the song's doing in here. I'm also presuming that there are no wormholes lined with telephone wires, so Zack and Ak are back in Division Seven right now. They don't stay at the Shrine full-time; Zack's got an apartment back in Midgar.

Breaking the News

This was not how a relationship was supposed to go.

Normally, the boy and girl involved would go out on a few dates, see if they could get along with the other without resorting to fisticuffs, then introduce each other to their families, go out some more, get engaged, get hitched, and finish off by getting pregnant.

Nothing about the relationship of Zack Fair and Akalara Forrest, however, could be considered _normal. _

Thus it was with some apprehension that Zack hung up his phone, three days after he and the green-haired Turk had formally announced their engagement. His parents refused to allow their son to live his own life free of scrutiny, and insisted on calling him whenever they got the chance. More often than not, he would simply allow the answering service to pick up and then make some lame excuse later on, when he finally called them back. Since they only called his apartment in Midgar, that meant he usually came back from the Shrine or wherever and was greeted by about fifty messages from his folks. But he figured that he owed them an obligation-talk this time; after all, he _had _dropped a bomb on them when he sent them the announcement.

Somehow, they had talked him into coming to visit them in Gongaga, with fiance in tow. How they had done it, he wasn't entirely sure. But they had gotten his word that he would come see them and bring Akalara with him.

Sneaky parents...

The SOLDIER wasn't sure how to tell his loving bride-to-be that she was going to be meeting his parents in about a week. Or more importantly, how he was going to explain to his parents that they were going to be _grandparents_ a lot sooner than they might be expecting. Akalara was nine weeks along by now, and it was becoming visibly apparent that she wasn't her usual, slender self these days. There was just a slight, incriminating bulge to announce her condition to the casual observer; not much of one, but it was still there. His parents would know if they got a good, close look at her.

And probably draw their own conclusions, to boot.

_Gotta tell her sometime, _he told himself, pulling his cell phone out of his back pocket. He couldn't just drag her out to Gongaga unawares; she had to have some sort of warning. Scrolling through his address book and hitting her number, he put the phone to his ear and waited for her to pick up, snapping his fingers to the beat of "U + Ur Hand" while he waited.

Akalara really needed to change her ringback, one of these days. Good song, but not so good for a dude's ego.

After a moment, P!nk's voice was replaced by a clicking sound, and his fiance's bored tone. "Hello?"

Zack chuckled. "You never check your caller ID, do you, Ak?"

"Zack! I'm sorry; I didn't know it was you."

"Obviously. What you doin'?"

"Paperwork. What else?" she replied dryly.

"Are you sitting down?"

"No, I'm standing on my head and typing with my feet. Of course I'm sitting down, numbskull! Why?"

"Just making sure. I've got some news."

He could hear her grin in her question. "What, you pregnant too?"

"No." The SOLDIER snorted into the phone. "It should be fairly obvious to you by now that I am not possessed of a uterus or any part of the female reproductive system. You've certainly been down there often enough to know."

"Just making sure." He heard the tapping of keys on a keyboard. "So what's your big news?"

_Into the Abyss. _"Well, I just got off the phone with my parents. You know they call me whenever they get bored, right?"

"Yeah. I'm still mad at your mom for interrupting us last Saturday, by the way."

Zack had to laugh, remembering Akalara's face when his mom had phoned them right in the middle of testing their new sex swing. One more minute, and they would have been waking up half the building with their screams. "Mom always did have this wonderful sense of timing."

"That's pretty obvious."

"Anyway, you know how we sent out engagement announcements, right?"

"Yeah..."

"And you know how I really didn't want to send one to them, right?"

"Are you going somewhere with this, Zack?"

He sighed, running his fingers through his spiky black hair. "Long story short, my parents want to meet you. And they talked me into driving us both out to Gongaga this Friday, to spend the weekend with them."

There was a silence on the other end of the line, and then he heard Akalara's chair squeak as she leaned back in it, accompanied by two thumps. Kicking back in her chair. A typical indicator of the emergence of Serious Akalara, a far more intimidating lady than the infamous Green Bitch.

Not good.

Time for evasive manuevers. "Listen, Ak. I didn't realize they were going to pull this on me. I was just expecting the usual 'how are you, why do you never call, God help our poor, lustful baby boy' lecture! Plus, I just got back from sword practice, so I'm not thinking straight anyway. They got smart on me. Before I even knew what had happened, they'd gotten me to agree to this. It's not like I'm the one that suggested it!"

He heard her sigh into the phone. "Let me guess. They have no idea I'm pregnant, do they?"

"Nope."

"Think I'm just some nice girl who happened to capture your attention and steal your heart."

"More or less what Mom said."

"Going to guilt-trip you into dragging us both out there if we don't go?"

"Slam dunk."

"You know, suddenly I'm really thankful I haven't spoken to my parents in years." She sighed again, and he heard her chair squeak as she took her feet off the desk. "So what do we have to do?"

He wanted to do a victory dance. It wasn't often anybody could talk Serious Akalara back into her usual persona. "Ok, here's the deal. They don't know anything about you, apart from your name. I never tell them anything about my girlfriends, and the only thing they know about you, my lovely fiance, is that you're marrying me. They know I don't have the taste in women they would _like_ me to have, so they probably won't be looking for me to walk in the front door with a nice Catholic girl."

"Zack, I'm not Catholic."

"I know that, Ak. So, I'm not going to ask you to pretend you are. They'd see right through that."

"Then what _are _you asking me to do?"

"Just be nice. Don't mention that you're pregnant; we'll break that to them after they've warmed up to you. Let them know that you are Christian, but not Catholic. Don't mention that you're a Turk, because my dad has a real problem with people who kill for a living. You do _not _want to know how long it took them to get used to the idea that I was in SOLDIER. Oh, and we can't have sex."

Silence again. He could hear the _tick-tick-tick_ of Akalara's nails tapping on her desk. "May I ask why?"

"Because my parents basically put me on a libido-freeze when I was thirteen and...something happened. That's why I went so wild when I came to Midgar. I was sexually-repressed back home. They'll sic Father Sabastien on me if they so much as hear a bed squeak. And trust me, if you thought Father Vapone was bad, you ain't seen _nothin'_ yet!"

"Why did they make you put it on ice, Zack?" Her voice was gentler now, encouraging him to tell her.

"Guess you have a right to know, since my parents won't be the only ones mobbing us with questions. Remember how I said I went to parochial school when I was little?"

"Yeah."

"The school was co-ed, and all of the girls were just as itchy as the boys. There was this one girl, Yvette, who was worse than all the others, though."

"Meaning...?"

"She was the living definition of the bad Catholic schoolgirl. Yvette was willing to try _everything_. I was thirteen when she decided she was interested in me. What was I supposed to do? A thirteen year old just discovering the joys of jerking off, getting an invite to an empty, parentless house from a fifteen year old with the biggest gazongas he'd ever seen? It was a dream come true at the time!"

"Let me guess. She seduced you, and you lost your V-chip to her." He could hear the jealousy in Akalara's voice over the phone.

"Started as a makeout session, ended with us rolling around on the floor. Wasn't anything to write home about; I can remember lying there thinking _'that's it?' _when it was over. Yvette was an expert at drinking, smoking, and kissing, but she knew next to nothing about getting a guy off. I didn't realize how good sex could feel until I arrived in Midgar."

"Hmph." He mentally envisioned his fiance tossing her dark green locks in disdain. "I knew more than that at fifteen, and I was still a virgin at that point!"

"Yeah, but you had an older brother with a porn collection who spent most of the day at work, leaving you time to read his magazines after you got home from school. None of the kids back home had access to that sort of thing. Anyway, about two months after that, we got a little visit. I was upstairs in my room, slaving over my algebra homework, when there was this banging on the front door. Dad opened it, and I remember hearing shouting for a minute or two, and then dead silence. Then Dad called me down with his 'imminent pain' voice."

"'Imminent pain voice'?"

"That tone parents use when they're planning on beating the shit out of their kids in a few minutes."

"Oh."

"When I got down there, Dad was standing by the door. Yvette was there, and let me tell you she looked like she was going to cry. This big gorilla of a man had her arm in his fist, and he was glaring at me. I mean, I could literally _see_ the fires of hell in his eyes, Ak! Dad handed me this stick-thing, and told me it was a pregnancy test. Then he asked me to tell him what the color of the strip on the end meant. He and Mom had already given me the Talk by then, and told me how pregnancy tests work. Why, I have no idea."

"Must have figured you would actually need to use one at some point in the near future."

"Ha fuckin' ha. Continuing on, it was blue. So I had to stand there and tell my dad, Yvette, and _her _dad that this pregnancy test read positive. Dad told me that Yvette was the one who had taken the test. At that point, her dad blew up at me, threatening to tear me to pieces for touching his baby girl, blow my brains out, castrate me, yadda yadda yadda. He even promised that he was going to rip both my heads off for knocking up his daughter. Dad and Mom had to calm him down before he finally sat down on the couch and stopped promising to rend me limb from limb. Still glared fire and brimstone at me, though."

"So, you're telling me you have a kid in Gongaga?" she asked quietly.

"No. The story doesn't end there. My parents offered to make me marry Yvette, and her dad eventually agreed to that, even though he still wanted to kill me. My parents did, too; I wasn't able to sit down right for a week after the beating they gave me. The good priest was out of town for a conference, though, so it was decided that we would have our shotgun wedding once he got back. Turned out, a wedding wasn't needed after all." Zack's voice trailed off, as he remembered what happened next. Funny how it still hurt, even after all these years.

"Zack?" He knew Akalara could hear his pain over the phone. She was good at sensing things like that. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"I want to, Ak." He sighed and lay back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as he continued. "Neither Yvette nor I had a say in the matter. We didn't want to get married, especially since we were so young, but we didn't have much of a choice. I eventually convinced myself that this was God's will, and got used to the idea. But Yvette wanted none of it. She..." The SOLDIER closed his eyes, and forced himself to go on. "There was this guy living in Gongaga at the time. He was a retired surgeon from Kalm, just living out his retirement in peace. Yvette went to him with her savings, all the gil her parents had put away for her to go to school once she graduated, and asked him to give her an abortion. From what I heard, he didn't want to do it, but she talked him into it, even though he didn't have the equipment needed for the procedure. I found out about it when her dad called my parents and told them to forget about the wedding, because there was no reason for it anymore."

"Oh Zack... I'm so sorry..."

"I left Gongaga for the military shortly after that. Just couldn't face Yvette anymore. I couldn't stop thinking about the abortion, how she killed my baby." His voice lowered as he confessed to the mother of his child, the woman he loved. "That's why I was so upset when you told me you were pregnant. I couldn't help thinking that the same damn thing was happening all over again."

"Never, Zack. Never. I'd never abort a child, least of all your's." Akalara grew quiet. "What happened to her?"

He sighed again. "Last I heard, she'd found a nice young man and settled down for real. Still in Gongaga, apparently, so we might run into her. The point of this is, we can't have sex because my parents will go ape-shit on us."

"They'll probably go ape-shit anyway, when they find out about the baby."

"I know. Let's just not antagonize them, ok? We might not even tell them about it."

"I'm still skinny enough I can hide it with loose clothes. If this was six months into the pregnancy, we'd have a problem. But right now, it's not easy to tell I'm pregnant just by looking at me."

"Well, in that case, let's change tactics slightly." Zack thought for a minute. "We won't tell them about the baby. We won't sleep in the same room. You're just a chaste little paper-pusher I started dating and fell for, not going to let me indulge my manly urges until the wedding night."

"I know I'm an expert at disguises, Zack, but that might just be pushing it."

"Just act like a virgin!"

"And how do you suggest I do that?"

"I dunno... Act like you did when you were fifteen!"

"Which was exactly the same way I act now, only by myself."

"Big help, Ak." Zack thought for a minute, and then the lightbulb flashed on over his head. "Gwen!"

"What?" Now she was very confused. "What does Gwen have to do with this?"

"Act like Gwen did before Seph married her! Nice, respectful, confident but shy, with just a hint of naivete; a woman who's saving herself for marriage, but smart enough to know what people do at night!"

"Well..." She hesitated, tapping her nails again. "I suppose I could try... Though I've never done 'virginal' before. Not even when I was the nun."

Zack laughed. "I can attest to that," he purred.

Now it was Akalara's turn to laugh. "That's what got us into this mess in the first place! You and your nun fetish!"

"So I get turned on by a hot gal with a ruler. It's a common affliction for us poor Catholic schoolboys. Besides, I don't remember you voicing any complaints."

"That's because, if you recall, I was too busy screaming your name!" They laughed for a minute, and then Akalara got playful. "So if we can't have sex while we're in your parent's home, because I must protect my honor and all, doesn't that mean we have to get it all out of our systems before we leave?"

"I hadn't thought of that, but it sounds reasonable to me!"

"I think somebody's being a naughty boy..." she purred into the phone. Zack immediately felt his pants tighten.

"Am I going to have to report to Sister Akalara for punishment?" he asked eagerly.

"I suppose that she could tend to your punishment," the Turk murmured. "But it will have to be after work, and I'll have to stop by the costume shop first."

"You'd leave me with a boner until then?" he wailed pitifully.

"Maybe that will teach you not to have impure thoughts."

"You like my impure thoughts," he accused playfully.

"True. Very true." He heard her clicking the mouse. "Very well, then. I'll ask Tseng if I can clock out early tonight. Oh, and Zack?"

"Yeah, baby?"

Her voice dropped a full octave, to that voice that always sent chills up his spine. "Don't you dare touch that sweet cock of yours until I get there."

He inhaled and exhaled shakily, already fighting the urge to touch himself. "Yes, Sister."

There was a dark chuckle, and then she hung up. Zack dropped the phone back in its cradle and glanced down to assess the situation.

Full-blown erection.

"Shit, Ak..." The SOLDIER fell back on the bed, making sure his hands were trapped beneath his back. "Gonna go off on its own, if you don't hurry home."


	2. One More for the Road

**Summary: **Zack's a playboy, and noted ladies' man. His parents despair of him ever finding a nice girl and settling down. So what will their reaction be when he introduces them to his fiance? Set in MysticSpiritus' AU.

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Father Sabastien, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it? Song ain't mine either; it's just here to set the mood.

**Queen's Quornor: **Not doing the nun scene, but I'll bet that Zack and Ak would have had one more sexual encounter. They're used to nightly marathons; they won't go celibate for the weekend before the moment they get in seeing distance of Gongaga. Maybe this isn't one of my best lemons, but... Well, I can only give so much quality when I have two lemon-phobic parents and a tattle-tale little sister looking over my shoulder whenever they pass! I wasn't going to put the song in here originally, but when I was listening to it, it seemed oddly appropriate. So, they've got mood-music playing in the background. Might as well warn you now: serious fluff later!

One More for the Road

The ferry took half a day to get across the ocean, meaning that Zack and Akalara arrived in Costa del Sol roughly at midnight. After spending the night in the inn, the couple rented a convertible and headed for Gongaga.

Most of the trip was spent fiddling with the radio and talking about their friends. Zack spilled what he thought Reno, Kuja, and Sephiroth were going to do for his bachelor party, and Akalara laughed with him about what Gwen and Kandi had threatened to do for her bachelorette party. There was a good possibility of strippers at both parties, something neither fiance was overly thrilled about.

"I just don't like the idea of some naked blond bimbo jiggling all over the place, in your face," Akalara grumbled. "I mean, that's my job!"

Zack laughed at that comment. "I know, babe. But you can't strip at my bachelor party. For one thing, you don't know how. Secondly, it's bad luck for you to be there, just as it would be for me to be at your's." He scowled. "Still, I don't like the idea of you having a male stripper, either."

"But you just know our friends will hire strippers for us, whether we want them or not." The Turks sighed and smiled. "Besides, where'd you get the idea that I don't know how to strip? I've danced for you before, and you've never complained."

"You're not a pro, though."

"And you want me to remedy this situation?" she teased.

Zack took his eyes off the road long enough to glare at her. "I know I'm not the first guy to have seen your breasts, Ak, but I'll thank you not to increase that number of lucky guys." He smirked and hit the gas to go up a hill. "I'm the only one with the right to behold their glory now."

"Does that mean I can't look at my own chest now?"

The SOLDIER snorted. "Only if it means I can't look at my own dick anymore."

"Not gonna happen, Blackspike. There's only so much I'm willing to clean up in a bathroom, and misses are not one of them." Akalara flipped through the radio stations again, trying to find something good. "Music here sucks."

"Try the retro channels. They usually play something good." Zack scowled up at the sky. "Shit! We might just get caught in the rain, Ak."

Cranberry eyes flicked to him curiously. "Is that a problem?"

"We're about twenty miles from Gongaga. The entire area gets some serious thunderstorms this time of year. Bad enough that visibility is practically nil."

"So if we get caught in a storm, we're going to have to just sit tight and wait until it's over?"

"Yep. And if we're even fifteen minutes late, my parents will be calling my cell, demanding to know where we are." Zack didn't look too pleased at this prospect.

Akalara watched him for a moment, then her lips curled upward in her patented mischievious smirk. She leaned forward and placed one hand high on her fiance's thigh. "But if we are late and stuck in the rain, that would mean that we are left to our own devices until such time as the rains let up, correct?"

Purple eyes glanced at her, and an answering smirk grew on Zack's handsome face. "And it would be so boring to just sit here and watch the rain..."

"_Exactly_," she breathed.

He let up on the gas and let the speedometer drop to about twenty-five, watching the blackening sky above as much as the road ahead. Sure, they hadn't been doing anything in their spare time except having sex lately, but he was more than willing for another round. It was no fun being celibate when your partner was in the other room, after all.

Both he and Akalara let out a whoop when the sky opened up with an earsplitting crack of thunder, and everything was suddenly obscured by water. True to the SOLDIER's word, the downpour was thick enough that the headlights could not penetrate more than a foot or two in front of them. Grinning like fools, the two went about their respective activities; Zack pulled the car over and hit the button that activated the roof, shielding them from further soaking of the heaven-borne variety, while Akalara found a good song on the radio at last.

_**Take me now baby here as I am  
Pull me close, try and understand** _

Zack raised a brow at her choice of music, but didn't comment. Instead, he leaned his seat all the way back and reached for her. Akalara went with a smile, straddling his thighs and leaning in for a hot, sultry kiss.

_**Desire is hunger is the fire I breathe  
Love is a banquet on which we feed** _

The military officer responded to the kiss eagerly, sliding his fiance's loose halter-top up over her head and unhooking her bra so her breasts were exposed to his wandering hands. Akalara moaned into his mouth as he kneaded and stroked them expertly, her fingers sliding each button on his shirt from its hole while her tongue danced with his. She loved the feel of her breasts mashed against his hard, muscular chest.

_**Come on now try and understand  
The way I feel when I'm in your hands**_

His shirt open and tucked beneath his back, Zack brought her forward to rest against him, one hand fisting in her forest-green hair possessively. The kiss grew slower, hotter, filled with both love and passion. The hunger they both felt for each other in body, heart, and soul. Neither said it; neither heard it. But they both knew what the other was trying to say without speaking.

_I love you._

_**Take my hand come undercover  
They can't hurt you now,  
Can't hurt you now, can't hurt you now** _

Her body desperately needing his, the Turk slowly ground her pelvis against her love's, massaging the hardening bulge as effectively as her fingers could have done. Zack understood her wordless call, but she was not yet ready for his invasion, and the last thing he wanted was to cause her unnecessary pain. Long, masculine fingers lifted her skirt and shifted the thong aside, sliding into her moist folds easily to tease and play. Akalara moved her hips against their stroke, her own fingers winding tightly into his shirt as her pleasure grew.

_**Because the night belongs to lovers  
Because the night belongs to lust**_

When her moisture coated his fingers, Zack pulled down his zipper and pulled out his erect cock. Akalara moved to take him into her, but he stopped her with a firm hand on her hip. Pushing her into an upright position, the black-haired man slowly drew the head of his cock up through her folds, rubbing against her clit with the exact pressure proven to send her through the ceiling. His lover responded by tilting her head back, moaning at the heavenly sensation. Zack felt his own arousal spike, watching her sensual reaction.

_**Because the night belongs to lovers  
Because the night belongs to us** _

Unable to hold back any longer, he guided her into position and helped her slowly slide down, watching her beautiful face. Akalara braced herself on his shoulders, biting her lip until their hips met and he was deep inside her. Cranberry eyes met ameythyst, and then she began to move.

_**Have I doubt when I'm alone  
Love is a ring, the telephone**_

Her rocking movements were aided by his hands on her hips, coaxing her into a deeper, slower rhythm that sent hot sparks through both their bodies. Zack tightened his abdominal muscles, forcing himself into a sitting position, and set his mouth to licking and biting her breasts. Akalara threaded her fingers through his hair, her eyes shut tight against the pleasure rising in her body and his.

Then they flew open as the cell phone in Zack's pocket buzzed to life.

_**Love is an angel disguised as lust  
Here in our bed until the morning comes**_

The lovers froze, and Akalara threw her man a pleading look. Zack shrugged helplessly and pulled the phone out of his pocket. A curse escaped his lips when he saw that the screen named his mother as the caller.

_**Come on now try and understand  
The way I feel under your command **_

The SOLDIER chewed his lip, purple eyes flicking from the phone in his hand to his fiance impaled on his hard length, and back again. The screen green with life, demanding his attention with an insistent vibration. Akalara's eyes glowing with the strength of her need, silently begging him to ignore the call and follow her to the heights of ecstasy.

_**Take my hand as the sun descends  
They can't touch you now,  
Can't touch you now, can't touch you now**_

The phone buzzed one more time, and Zack reached a decision. He threw it back over his shoulder and wrapped his love in his arms, pulling her down for a heated, loving kiss. He had ignored her once in favor of his mother. He would not make that mistake again.

_**Because the night belongs to lovers  
Because the night belongs to lust  
Because the night belongs to lovers  
Because the night belongs to us** _

Faster now, thrusting in counterpoint to her movements. Large hands roaming across her back and sides, slender digits dancing across his chest and stomach. Seeking out the places they had memorized in their hearts, knowing exactly how to give their partner, their soul-mate, the most earth-shattering ecstasy known to Man.

_**With love we sleep  
With doubt the vicious circle  
Turn and burns **_

The kiss continued unbroken, lips and teeth and tongues clashing, parting, and coming together anew in accompaniment to the remainder of their bodies. A wordless declaration of love and lust, communicated only through their movements and their kiss.

_**Without you I cannot live  
Forgive, the yearning burning  
I believe it's time, too real to feel  
So take me now, take me now, take me now** _

So close now. Their dance became more desperate, more powerful, as the heavens glittered just out of reach. Thunder rolled and lightning split the sky...

And the heavens' furious display was deafened by two cries, one gloriously masculine, the other hauntingly feminine.

_**Because the night belongs to lovers  
Because the night belongs to lust** _

Within the car, a SOLDIER and a Turk rested in each other's arms, the woman secure against the man's chest and her head tucked tight against his shoulder. Hearts beating together, with one rhythm. But for the faceless voice singing on the radio, there were no words in this perfect moment, this union between a man and his woman, curled tight together with their unborn child cocooned protectively between.

A single loving kiss was exchanged, and the green-haired assassin returned to her rest, eyes closed as she breathed in her lover's scent. His arms tightened possessively around her, letting her know that it was safe to sleep, should she desire to do so. They were miles away from their destination, but he would keep her, and their child, safe.

The familiar exchange of words, a simple confession and its answering reply, were whispered against forest-shaded hair and flushed, sweaty skin, and then the woman slept, lulled into slumber by the sound of the heart beating against her own. An organ which belonged to her and her alone, just as her own was given to him.

_**Because the night belongs to lovers  
Because the night belongs to us** _

The phone sounded again, but neither paid any heed. This moment was for them; intruding mothers and mothers-in-law-to-be were not welcome here.

That battle could wait until tommorrow, when civilization they reached.


	3. First Impressions

**Summary: **Zack's a playboy, and noted ladies' man. His parents despair of him ever finding a nice girl and settling down. So what will their reaction be when he introduces them to his fiance? Set in MysticSpiritus' AU.

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Father Sabastien, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it? Song ain't mine either; it's just here to set the mood.

**Queen's Quornor:** And here we are! Gongaga ho! What will Mr. and Mrs. Fair think of Akalara? We shall see! And since the games don't give them names, I have now named Zack's parents. His mom's name is pronounced "Lee-ain". I'm also taking creative liberties with Zack's house. The one in the game just looks a bit too small, you know?

First Impressions

"Are you sure they won't attack me or something the moment I walk through that door?" Akalara asked, winding her index finger around a lock of dark green hair. Zack caught the motion out of the corner of his eye and took one hand off the wheel to take her hand in his. When Akalara played with her hair, it typically meant she was feeling anxiety.

"My parents aren't like that. They're a pain sometimes, and they will ask a ton of questions, but they won't try to eat you alive or anything like that. They just want to make sure you're good for me," he explained, driving the car into Gongaga's town limits.

"And if they decide I'm not?"

Zack smiled and squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Fuck them. I don't need my parents' blessing to marry the woman I love."

The Turk's heart warmed at her fiance's words and she leaned in for a quick peck on the cheek, just as the first houses came into view. "Thanks, Zack."

"No problem, babe."

The green-haired woman leaned back in her seat to watch the town pass by. Gongaga was small, but it exuded a charm that she rather liked. This was the sort of town everybody wished they could grow up in, the town in which everybody knew each other and what was going on the moment it happened.

Which was being proven right now, as people came out of their homes to watch the sleek silver convertible go rolling by. Akalara could hear people talking over Infernia on the radio.

"Zack's back!"

"Looks like the soldier-boy has come home."

"Who's the babe?"

"Mommy, why does that lady have green hair?"

She blushed and squeezed Zack's hand again. She didn't like being put in the spotlight like this; just having all these people staring at her made her heart race. It just came with being different, and although she had long since gotten used to odd looks and scrutinization, the anxiety was still there.

Zack's house was just over the bridge in the middle of town, overlooking the valley below the town. This meant that they had to endure the curious gazes of the townsfolk all the way up to the front door. When they got out of the car, Zack immediately put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, offering her strength in the face of her greatest source of anxiety.

"You ok, Ak?" he whispered, leading her up to the door.

"I'd be better if we had arrived at midnight, with nobody out to watch us," she confessed.

"We would have, if you hadn't gotten frisky," he teased.

Akalara rolled her eyes and smiled. Zack could always tease a grin out of her, no matter what her mood. "Do you regret that?" she asked quietly.

Her fiance flashed his teeth. "Never." He reached out and banged firmly on the door, the portal rattling on its hinges. "Now remember. You're a virgin, and you aren't pregnant. Be Gwen."

Akalara swallowed and nodded, rubbing her lower belly quickly before the door opened.

Standing in the door was a woman in her late forties, her braided black hair streaked with grey and her cerulean eyes expectant. She smiled wide when she laid eyes upon Zack.

"Welcome home, Zack!"

"Hey, Mom." Zack let go of Akalara to wrap his arms around his mother, returning her smile with glee. Akalara stood off to the side, watching with nervous, slightly-envious eyes. Despite the exasperation they periodically caused him, the SOLDIER loved his parents dearly; Akalara had never had that kind of relationship with her own parents.

"Is that my son?" a deep voice called from within the house. "If it was, he would be in here right now, giving his old man an earful!"

"Aw, gimme a break, Dad!" Zack retorted playfully. "Mom won't let go of me long enough to get out of the doorway!"

"Leihaen, quit breaking his ribs and let him come inside!"

"As you wish, dear." The woman released her son with a roll of her eyes, still smiling. As he disappeared inside the house, her blue gaze turned upon the green-haired Turk standing outside the door. "You must be Akalara. Won't you come inside?"

The aforementioned nodded and strode meekly inside, feeling completely out of her depths. She could wade through paperwork without breaking a sweat, and stand standfast and unafraid while a gun was pressed against her head (and had before). She could take a life without flinching. But family affairs such as this were as foreign to her as her job was to most civilians.

Determined not to get Zack in trouble, Akalara put on her best face and smiled, sitting on the couch as Zack's mother indicated. Her fiance settled beside her when his father let go of him, putting his arm around her again for reassurance.

Mrs. Fair sat with her husband, still smiling happily, while Akalara examined Mr. Fair. He was taller than his son sitting down, with dark brown hair and the same purple eyes sported by the SOLDIER. He seemed to have been muscular in his youth, but the evidence was shrinking in his advancing age. The Turk could certainly see where her fiance had gotten his good looks. Both of his parents had to have been hotties in their prime.

"So, Zack. Who is the babe?" Mr. Fair inquired, reaching for the glass on the coffee table in front of him. His wife reprimanded him with a playful cuff on the bicep.

"It's ok, mom. She's my fiance, Akalara Forrest." Zack smiled at the green-haired woman lovingly. "I am perfectly aware that she's a babe."

"Like father, like son. As usual." Mrs. Fair reached laid a hand atop her husband's. "Before he found God, your father was quite the skirtchaser."

"Still would be, if your mother was into that sort of thing. But she doesn't let me run after her anymore."

Zack winced. "Could you please leave your bedroom habits out of the conversation? I'd rather not know how I was conceived, thank you very much. Don't need the visuals."

"Nor would we wish you to have them." Mrs. Fair turned back to Akalara. "Well, we know who you are, Akalara, but introductions haven't been completed. I am Leihaen, and this is my husband Josef."

"Zack's parents, I would presume." The Turk flashed them her best disarming grin.

"I would hope so. Otherwise, you're in the wrong house!" Josef beamed at her, and finished his glass of juice. "So what do you do for a living, Akalara, apart from looking pretty?"

"Watch it, Dad," Zack warned playfully.

"I'm a secretary in the Shinra Human Resources department," the Turk explained. She and Zack had concocted an appropriate story for her to tell his parents, and rehearsed it until they both had it down cold. "But mostly all I do is run papers back and forth all day."

"That's how I met her," Zack cut in. "I was late for a physical in the labs, and literally ran into her while I was trying to get up there."

"Papers flying every which way?" Josef inquired, grinning like a fool.

"All over the place," Akalara replied.

"I never did get my physical that day. Helped her gather up the papers, we got to talking, and the next thing I know, I'm asking her out to dinner."

Josef raised his empty glass in a mock-toast. "Sounds a lot like how I met Leihaen. I was up on a house, fixing the roof with my dad, and lost my balance. If I had fallen two feet to the right, I would have squashed her."

"I thought it was raining men that day," Leihaen laughed. "It was like an answer to a prayer. 'Send me my true love, Lord', and the next thing I know, there is a handsome young man sprawling in the dirt right in front of me."

"You dropped your prayer beads and shouted 'Alleluia!' when you saw me, remember?"

The gray-streaked woman smiled and squeezed her husband's hand, her blue gaze growing tender. "I do."

Zack glanced at Akalara, his purple eyes twinkling. He mouthed _"they bought it"_ at her, barely moving his lips.

"So what finally drove you into proposing, son?" Josef asked, looking back at the young couple. "She isn't pregnant or anything, is she?"

Akalara felt her heart stop.


	4. Close Shave

**Summary: **Zack's a playboy, and noted ladies' man. His parents despair of him ever finding a nice girl and settling down. So what will their reaction be when he introduces them to his fiance? Set in MysticSpiritus' AU.

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Father Sabastien, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it?

**Queen's Quornor:** I have decided upon a hair style for Akalara! You know Kairi's hair? Ok, lengthen it out to about four inches below the shoulder and collarbone, and change the color to dark green with lighter highlights. That's Akalara's hair. Sorry; I have had someone ask me what her hair looks like, and figured I had to solidify what this woman looks like. Anyway, I know I gave a lot of you heart attacks with the end of the last chapter. Is the jig up? Have Leihaen and Josef figured things out? I'm not telling! You'll have to read and find out yourselves.

A Close Shave

Akalara thought for sure that she was going to die. Zack's parents had discovered the truth, that she was pregnant. They were going to call the priest in any minute now, she was certain.

Zack's nostrils flared slightly, but he didn't react. Instead, he just rolled his eyes and shook his head. "No, she's not. In fact, we haven't even done anything like that. Ak won't let me."

The Turk nodded vigorously. "He doesn't get this body until I get my ring," she declared with a playful grin.

Leihaen laughed. "Good choice, Akalara. That's the very policy I took before I met my Josef."

Josef threw his head back in irritation, but tenderly squeezed his wife's hand, destroying his annoyed façade. "She wouldn't even let me cop a feel. All I could do was kiss her, and even though that's fun, I wanted the whole package!"

Zack raised one hand, pretending to shield himself and his fiancé from his horny parents. "Cease and desist! We don't want to hear the details of your wedding night!"

"Spoilsport." Josef got to his feet and went to the kitchen, retrieving a bottle of orange juice and refilling his glass. "So, are you two going to Mass with us on Sunday?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Akalara, too?"

"Well, I'm not exactly Catholic," the green-haired woman explained. "I believe in the Father and the Son, but I don't belong to any of the established denominations."

Josef frowned at her, but it was only for a second. "There is another pastor in town. You can go to his service, if you wish. But we would be glad to have you at Mass. Visitors and those curious about the faith are always welcome."

"Thank you, Josef. I shall certainly consider it." Akalara inclined her neck in a gracious gesture, then turned back to Leihaen, just as the door knocked. Zack's mother went to the portal and pulled it open, admitting a young man with brown hair and piercing blue eyes.

Those eyes flicked around the room before settling on the couch, lighting up when they saw the SOLDIER. "Zack! Nice to see ya home, buddy!"

"Hey, Dag." The black-haired man got up and clasped one hand with the newcomer's, each man using the hands to yank the other closer, into a friendly, masculine hug. "How you been, man?"

"I've been great, man." The eyes settled on Akalara, who fidgeted slightly under their gaze. He made her more than a little uncomfortable, for some reason. "Who's the babe?"

Zack released him, still holding onto his hand. "This 'babe' happens to be my fiancé, Akalara Forrest. Ak, this is my good buddy, Mathias Hallister. To the priests and his parents, that is. Everybody else just knows him as 'Dagger'."

"Hello, Dagger." Akalara stood up and shook his hand, trying to ignore her uneasy feelings.

Leihaen stood up. "Zack, dear. Don't you have luggage you need to bring inside?"

"Sure thing, Mom. C'mon, Ak. Let's get the bags." Akalara followed her fiancé, not even looking at Dagger, who followed her outside.

She did, however, jump when he squeezed her ass through her skirt.


	5. Saved by the Cell

**Summary: **Zack's a playboy, and noted ladies' man. His parents despair of him ever finding a nice girl and settling down. So what will their reaction be when he introduces them to his fiance? Set in MysticSpiritus' AU.

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Father Sebastien, Dagger, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it?

**Queen's Quornor:** We're doing a change for this fic. I was originally planning on something similar to the movie by the same name, but then Dagger entered the picture and suddenly I had ideas of a different nature. What kind of ideas, you ask? Well, let's just say that this isn't going to be a friendly humor fic anymore.

Saved by the Cell

"Ak, you're overreacting."

"No, _you're _not reading enough into this." The green-haired Turk crossed her arms and glared at her fiance, who steadfastly refused to listen to her. "He patted my ass, Zack."

The SOLDIER rolled his eyes and sat on the bed, begining the arduous process of removing his boots. "That's not exactly a unique occurance, Ak. Men tend to do that when they meet a woman they find attractive, and furthermore, that's not the first time it's happened to you." Glowing violet eyes skated over the body part in question, admiring the curve. "You've got one fine ass."

Akalara scowled and turned, hiding the aforementioned ass from view. "I am perfectly aware that I have had my ass groped before, Zack. You were one of the repeat offenders. But this time was...different."

He glanced up at her, finally getting all of the laces and buckles undone so he could take off the boot. "What do you mean?"

"I... I'm not sure." The Turk turned her head, looking at the partially-opened door to Zack's room. Leihaen had told them that Akalara could go in his room, so long as the door was left open. She would be sleeping on the couch downstairs, though. "It's just... You introduced me to him as your fiance, and most men would know to keep their hands to themselves when that association was made clear. But he _didn't. _It was almost as if he didn't care that we're going to be married." She lowered one hand to her abdomen, still watching the door. "I just didn't feel at all comfortable around him, that's all."

"Dagger won't do anything to you, Ak. You're just hormonal, that's all." Glancing at the door, the black-haired man got up and went to his agitated fiance, wrapping her in his arms comfortingly. "I know you're uncomfortable with this whole situation, but you've got to relax. Nobody's going to do anything to you here. Besides, we shouldn't be staying in Gongaga too much longer, anyway."

Akalara raised her head, cranberry eyes clouded with confusion. "What? Why not?"

Her fiance was wearing his sly look again. Still watching the door, he dipped his head until his lips were less than a centimeter from her left ear. "I never told Rhianna that we had plans for this weekend," he breathed.

The Turk's eyes went wide, then narrowed as a mischevious smirk spread across her lips. It was all very clear to her now. "So chances are, you're going to get called out to the Shrine any minute so she can chew you out about not being there like you're supposed to be."

"And I'm taking you with me, sweetheart. After all, aren't you supposed to be doing paperwork right now?"

"If it means getting out of here, I'd do Gwen's share, too." Akalara leaned into the SOLDIER's warmth, suddenly grateful that he hated coming out here as much as she did. "Especially since your mother is hell-bent on us planning the entire wedding before we leave."

Zack chuckled and nuzzled her dark emerald hair. "That's Mom for you. She wants to make absolutely sure I don't try to weasel out of it." He kissed the top of her head. "Not that I would, anyway."

"I know you wouldn't." Once Zack gave his word, he would do his damndest to fulfill it. The idea of being stranded at the alter had never even crossed Akalara's mind. "Still, we're going to have to concede on at least a few things. She'll never leave us alone if we don't."

"I know."

Neither of them were looking forward to sitting at the bargaining table with Leihaen. She had already declared that she wanted them married here in Gongaga, where all the neighbors and family acquaintances could see it. Her own wedding dress had been offered to Akalara, who, despite her warm praise to the dress' owner, privately thought it was one of the ugliest things she had ever seen, and Josef's old tuxedo was already slated for Zack's use. She had promised that they would be going to the temple in the morning to discuss the ceremony with Father Sebastien, and after that there were flowers to pick out. Leihaen had also informed the surprised couple that they were to present her with a list of potential guests, bridesmaids, best man, and ushers by dinner tomorrow.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say she was the one getting married, not us," Akalara grumbled, thinking over the various demands laid out by Zack's mother.

The SOLDIER snorted in amusement and pulled back so he could look into his fiance's eyes. "She just wants to make sure it's done right. I mean, I'm her only baby, and she never had a daughter. This is her only chance to oversee a wedding. And for all we know, this might be the only way she knows how to do it. Dad told me Grandma took care of every last detail of their wedding, so maybe it hasn't crossed her mind that you might like to have a hand in planning your own big day."

"And we're going to need all the help we can get, truth be told. We've got to get married soon." Akalara murmured, guiding one of his hands to her mostly-flat belly. "Unless of course, you want them to find out...?"

"I don't think you'd like me castrated, Ak. Because my parents would, you know."

Interlacing her fingers with his atop her womb, the green-haired Turk pressed a loving kiss to her fiance's mouth. "I'd still love you, Zack. We'd just have to spend quite a bit of gil on toys, that's all."

The arm still around her waist tightened, bringing her to him once more. "Nice to know you love me for more than my cock, babe."

"Of course I do. You love me for more than my boobs and the baby, right?"

"You know it, Ak."

The Turk rested her head against his chest once more, a contented smile on her face. "See? Your answer was there all along."

ZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZA

The expected call came just as the couple was sitting down at the dinner table. The cell phone in Zack's pocket suddenly exploded to life with the sound of Nickelback's "Animals", causing the SOLDIER to pull it out and flip it open. "Y'ello?"

"No phones at the table, Zack," Leihaen admonished, passing a bowl of mashed potatoes to her husband. Her son nodded and got up, retreating to the other side of the room so he could answer his cell. "Akalara, _eat!_ You hardly have a thing on your plate!"

"Thank you, Leihaen, but I'm not really hungry." The _last _thing the pregnant woman wanted was to reveal her condition with a spontaneous outburst of morning sickness.

Zack's mother shook her head and scooped out some potatoes, shaking them off onto her future daughter-in-law's plate with a forceful gesture. "You must be starving after that long car ride. Eat eat eat!"

"Leave the poor girl alone, Leihaen. She'll eat when she's hungry," Josef cut in, taking the bowl and spoon away from his wife. "Zack, get off that phone and come to the table!"

The SOLDIER nodded and held up one finger, a silent gesture for them to wait a second. After a minute or so, he lowered the hand. "Ok, fine. We'll be there as soon as we can." The phone was snapped shut and put back in the pocket, and Zack strode over to the table but did not sit down. "Ak and I have to go. They need me back at HQ."

Josef frowned. "But you just got here."

"I know, I know. But I can't exactly tell General Sephiroth that I've got other plans. Not if I want to keep my military career, that is." Zack helped Akalara up from the table, and rushed upstairs for their bags. "It's pretty urgent. Sorry we weren't able to stay longer."

Josef sighed and stood up, going over to his son with arms wide-spread. Zack went to him, expecting to be hugged...

But instead found himself yanked forward and trapped in a head-lock, his old man's free hand madly ruffling his wild black spikes.

"Mmmph!" he protested, trying to free himself without hurting his father. Josef, grinning like a lunatic, released him once his hair was beyond saving.

"Consider that punishment for leaving us so quickly," he said, his grin widening as Zack quickly got out of arm's reach. Leihaen playfully smacked her husband's arm before hugging her son.

"Be careful, ok?"

Zack rolled his eyes, unnoticed by his mother. "I know, Mom."

"And you take care of him, you hear me?" Josef said, speaking to Akalara. "We'll hold you personally responsible if he has a wreck on the way back to Midgar."

"You can count on me, Mr. Fair!" the Turk replied, saluting him with a grin.

Zack and Akalara grabbed their bags and rushed out the door, trying not to seem to eager to leave while they loaded up the car and peeled out of the drive, zooming out of Gongaga as quickly as possible. Leihaen joined her husband in leaning against the doorway, watching the dust kicked up by the spinning tires slowly settle.

"She's pregnant, isn't she?"

Josef nodded, putting his arm around her waist. "Practically a guarantee. You and I acted the same way, remember?"

Leihaen laughed and snaked her arm around him, still watching the dust. "I wonder if Zack will ever realize that he was conceived about three months _before _our wedding."

"Not likely. He's damn smart, but seems to have a problem putting two and two together sometimes."

"Language, Josef."

"Sure thing, babe."

ZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZA

Leihaen and Josef weren't the only ones watching the couple's speedy departure with more than passing interest. Dagger was also observing them, along with one other.

"So you've seen her?"

"Of course I have." Dagger picked at hs sleeve, smirking. "She's just what you expected. Zack always had good taste in women."

"And a habit of ruining them."

Annoyed blue eyes flicked to his companion, then back to the road. "That was your own fault, Yvette. You're the one who decided to have an abortion, when you could have had him."

A fist cracked against his jaw, snapping his head painfully skyward. Dagger coolly turned to face him companion, absently rubbing at the aflicted area. The blond was glaring at him, her leaf-colored eyes full of hate. "I thought we decided to never discuss that ever again," she hissed, her sibilant voice dripping with fury. "It's his fault I'm like this now!"

Dagger toyed with the thought of pointing out that she was the one who had gone to the surgeon, that Zack had had nothing to do with her decision, but wisely held his tongue. Yvette just might yank it out if he did. "So how does she figure into your plans?"

"You always were an idiot," Yvette spat. "Isn't it obvious? I want him to suffer! He's the reason my marriage broke up, and I lost the man I loved!" She whirled away from Dagger, her hands automatically going to her lower abdomen. Zack's baby was not the only thing the abortion had destroyed. "Since I can't give birth, he can't either. A quick root around with a knife or a knitting needle, and she'll never be able to give him kids. Simple enough even for _you _to understand."

Dagger glared at her, but his gaze quickly softened. He just couldn't hate her, no matter how much she abused him. "And just how do you intend to get her back here? I doubt she'd come willingly, especially without Zack."

Yvette turned her head, a malicious little smile twisting her shapely lips. "Remember that vocal encryptor that my father had? The one he brought back after his tour of duty? Wait until next week, then call Shinra. Ask for her. Tune it so you sound just like Leihaen, and convince her to come back to Gongaga."

"How?"

"I don't care what you say! Make up some bullshit about needing her here to see which flowers will look best against her skin or something! Just get her back here!" The blond hugged herself, shivering with joyous anticipation. "Then bring her to me. I'll take care of her myself. After that, we'll send her back to him, and he'll never realize what happened to her!" Yvette threw back her head and laughed, throwing her arms wide. Dagger surpressed a shudder; her mirth had madness in it. "Then he'll know... What I go through _every single day of my life!_"

Zack's childhood friend smiled, watching her. He cared nothing for Akalara, and his old friendship with her fiance was of little concern. Yvette was all that mattered. Making her happy was the focus of his existence.

Though... She would probably concede to allowing him to have his way with the green-haired woman before exacting her vengeance. Zack's fiance was one hot little piece...


	6. Cast the First Stone

**Summary: **Zack's a playboy, and noted ladies' man. His parents despair of him ever finding a nice girl and settling down. So what will their reaction be when he introduces them to his fiance? Set in MysticSpiritus' AU.

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Father Sabastien, Dagger, Zack's parents' names, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it? Oh, and Disguise materia. That stuff certainly gets around, doesn't it?

**Queen's Quornor:** Fast-forward about two months. Akalara's in her fourth month now, and this is meant to take place after basically everything in this AU that Mystic, Amazon, and I have written thus far. This Vergil is, indeed, the Vergil of the Devil May Cry games. He and Akalara became friends after he scared the Morality Brigade out of business for her (more about that in my "Ball and Chain" and Mystic's "Honorable Mentions"), though Zack doesn't really like it. I realize it's been awhile since I've updated, and I am sorry. I've been toying with the idea of starting a Guilty Gear fic (my most recent addiction; Zato-1One and Venom rock!), but I probably won't. Too much to do, with too many in-progress fics and the Reno Awards and college. There just aren't enough hours in the day. Ok, the music was inspired by Mystic's fics, and her long-running plot-thread of the contents of Sephiroth's mp3 player. Normally, I'd use the alias bands I've come up with in my own fics, but since she set the example... And Amazon, one of the songs on here is dedicated to you!

Cast the First Stone

"I can't help you enough for helping me with this, Vergil." Akalara settled on the couch opposite the half-demon, sliding a box of accumulated cds over so they both could reach it. There were actually two separate containers, one for her own music collection and one for Zack's. "I don't want to plan the entire songlist myself. Most of my choices aren't really suitable for a post-wedding dance."

"It's no trouble. Though, you're still going to end up with a lot of rock. Must please the guests, you know." He reached for a handful of cds and turned the topmost one over. "So what, specifically, are you looking for?"

"I need a first-dance song, so something sappy and romantic is in order. Zack's going to have a dance with his mom, and my brother's dancing with me. Following those, we need a good mix of slow and fast songs. And not too much techno; Sephiroth's the best man, and he can't stand that type of music. But Kuja's one of the ushers, and he likes it, and so does Gwen."

"Mostly rock and pop, I take it?"

The green-haired woman nodded, grabbing a selection of Zack's cds. "Let me know if you find anything appropriate."

Preparations for the wedding were proceeding smoothly. The guest list had already been approved by Leihaen, the location and date had been set, the members of the wedding party were set in stone, and floral arrangements had already been taken care of. There was still a lot to do, but nobody was overwhelmed yet.

The order for the day was settling the song list for the DJ to play after the ceremony. Zack, Sephiroth, Kuja, and Darryl were getting measured for their tuxedos, after which they would be going out for drinks with Reno. Kandi was recovering from the trauma of getting fitted for her bridesmaid dress yesterday, Gwen was still recovering from a cold she had gotten the week before (her husband had been kicked out by his wife, who claimed his constant fretting over her and the baby was driving her insane. Sephiroth was understandably miffed about it), and Rhianna was preoccupied with a matter that had arisen in Division Ten recently. Akalara didn't want to pick the entire playlist by herself, so she had asked Vergil to help. Dante had tipped her off that he was very good at choosing mixed music, and offered as proof a cassette his twin had taped for him when they were younger.

That scratchy tape had been better than most of the mixed cds she had ever heard.

Besides, she wanted to involve him somehow. Vergil was a good friend and Akalara felt he deserved to be included in the wedding somehow. She had asked her fiance if he could be an usher, but the idea had suffered a quick death. Zack tolerated the half-demon for her sake, but otherwise had no use for him.

"How about this one? For the first dance, I mean." Vergil pointed to "Truly, Madly, Deeply" on Akalara's Savage Garden cd.

The Turk thought it over. It was a good song, very romantic, but... "Add it in later. It'll be a good slow dance after a few fast ones." She sighed and leaned against the couch, rubbing a hand over her belly. She was starting to show her pregnancy, which meant that when the wedding day finally came, she would have to borrow Reno's disguise materia. Zack's parents still didn't know she was with child, and that's exactly how she and her fiance would like to keep it.

Vergil watched her hand move over her abdomen, and his cerulean eyes grew sad. He would never come right out and say it, but the green-haired woman knew he wanted what his twin had: a woman who loved him, and the promise of children to come. That wish was to remain exactly what it was, a wish. Vergil was stuck living in the Shrine for the rest of his life, like all the other reformed criminals recruited as Guardians or Watchers. The chances of his finding a woman and getting married, of ever having children, were slim indeed.

"You don't have to be alone, Vergil," Akalara murmured. "Kuja beat the odds, didn't he?"

The dark slayer looked away from her, back to the cds in his lap. "Kuja didn't undo the Seal on the Demon World just so he could get at his father's power for the purpose of vengeance. Kuja didn't attempt to murder his younger twin, nor almost succeed. Kuja didn't set free seven demons of terrible power and influence, so he could raise the tower in which the aforementioned Seal lay.

"Kuja isn't a half-breed demon."

Akalara reached out and laid her hand on his shoulder. Vergil didn't even flinch at her touch. "That never mattered to me," she said quietly. "I wouldn't be talking to you like this if it did."

He turned his head slightly, looking at her with one unreadable eye. "You're the only woman who has tried to get close to me. And you've already been claimed by another."

That statement made her heart clench. What he had just implied, without saying the words... "There are other women, Vergil."

He turned back to the cds, his handsome face filled with regret and sorrow. "Not here, Akalara. Not here."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Well. I think it's a suitable list, don't you?" Akalara flipped through the notebook they had scribbled various songs in, satisfied with the selections.

Vergil looked at the chosen tunes, a pleased smirk spreading across his lips. "It should satisfy. There's something for everybody in here."

The green-haired Turk leaned back against the couch, holding the notebook in her hands. "The first dance Mr. and Mrs. Zackary Fair will share as a married couple..." she called in an announcer's voice.

"...is 'Amazed', by Lonestar." Vergil took the list, playing along. "The song Mr. Fair will share with his mother..."

"'Mama' by the Spice Girls! The song for Mrs. Fair and her brother..."

"'I'll Remember' by Madonna." Vergil scanned through the songs. "The dance floor will then be open to any and all comers, beginning with..."

"'I'm Gonna Getcha Good, by Shania Twain!" Akalara looked at the list proudly. "There's nothing on here that'll be hated by everyone. I think we've got it nailed, my friend."

It was a truly thorough list. There was rock, techno, pop, R&B, even a few country songs here and there. They ranged from fast to slow, sweetly romantic to hardcore anger. And of course, there were plenty of sex songs. The bride-to-be scanned the selections, announcing them with her friend to an invisible audience.

"'Bad Boy', by Cascada!"

"'Don't Let Go', by En Vogue."

"'Cherry Pie', Warrant!"

"'I Can Love You Like That', All-4-One."

"'This is Your Night', Amber!"

"'Baby Boy', Beyonce."

"'Paralyzer', Fingers Eleven!"

"'Pour Some Sugar on Me', Def Leppard."

"'Amaranth', Nightwish!"

"'Dreaming of You', Selena."

Akalara grinned and put the list down. Altogether, there was about three hours' worth of music here, enough to keep the party going long after she and Zack snuck off to consummate. "I'll have to run these past Zack, but I think we've got a winner here." She glanced at the clock. "Do you have any plans for dinner? It's almost seven, and I'm starving."

Vergil shook his head. "I'd rather eat in, if you don't mind."

"No problem. I have plenty of leftovers." She got off the couch and went into the kitchen unit of her quarters. Most of the Guardians preferred to eat out when they were at the Shrine, but Akalara wasn't one of them. She had been more than pleased when Kagome had assigned her a set of rooms with a functional kitchen.

"You would serve leftovers to a guest?" the half-demon inquired, following her.

The Turk smiled, recognizing the teasing for what it was. She had long since learned how to tell when Vergil was serious and when he was playing. "Well, I don't have time to whip up a state dinner, or I would. So you'll just have to make due with sugar-cured ham, shrimp alfredo, spaghetti, tuna casserole, and pineapple upside-down cake."

There was a thoughtful noise from the silver-haired slayer. "This should be an interesting meal, then. I have heard rumors about your culinary skills, Akalara."

"Nothing bad, I hope?" She opened the refrigerator, extracting the dishes in question.

"My informant claimed you are, and I quote, 'the best damn cook in the Shrine'." Vergil opened the cabinets, searching for the plates.

"Let me guess. Dante?"The Turk chuckled when he nodded. "He's exaggerating. I sent him and Anne some food last July, when they stayed really late in the library looking for information on this one demon. He's been singing my praises ever since!"

"Then I shall have to form my own opinion." Having found the plates, the half-demon passed her one and looked over the covered dishes. "I will admit, however, that they look much more appetizing than I was expecting."

"They should. They're only two days old, at the most." The green-haired woman jumped slightly as her cell phone went off, Pink's voice crooning on the coffee table. "Help yourself. I'll be right back." She went to the phone and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Akalara?"

"Oh, hey, Leihaen." The Turk fought to keep her voice cheerful. Zack's mother had been calling her a lot lately, eating up hours of Akalara's time to go over miniscule details for the big day. "Could I call you back later? I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"I won't keep you long. I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to come down to Gongaga this weekend, by yourself. We didn't really get to talk much when you visited with Zack, and I'd just like to get to know you better. You are marrying my son, after all."

Akalara laughed. "Don't you know me well enough already? We talk every single night!"

"But it's always about the wedding. I don't know much about _you_, and I should. You're going to be my daughter-in-law in a few weeks."

The Turk rolled her eyes, wanting nothing more than to get off the phone and feed her growling stomach. Nourishing her baby was more important that dragging out negociations with Zack's mother. "Ok, ok. I'll come see you on Saturday. Now, I've got to go."

"All right, dear. I won't keep you. Josef and I look forward to seeing you this weekend."

"Good-bye, Leihaen." Akalara ended the call and shut the phone, then went back to the kitchen. Vergil glanced at her, filling his plate with slices of ham. "Zack's mother wants me to visit this weekend, without him. She wants to size me up, it seems."

The half-demon turned puzzled eyes upon her. "Hasn't she done that already?"

Akalara shrugged, ignoring her misgivings. "Not thoroughly enough, I guess. I said I'd be down on Saturday."

"You should take somebody with you. Something's a bit off about that." He grabbed some silverware and took his plate in to the couch. "Your fiance will go crazy if something happens to you."

"They're senior citizens, Vergil. Well-meaning old coots, who just want to look after their son. What are they going to do, beat me with a cane?" She scooped some alfredo onto her plate and filled a glass with water, then joined him on the couch. "I'll be fine."

The half-demon gave her a concerned look, but said nothing further. Her mind was already made up.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Is it done?"

"Yes. She'll be arriving on Saturday." Dagger shut off the vocal scrambler, refusing to acknowledge the fact that he was leading an innocent woman to her potential death and the abortion of her child. "Alone."

"Wonderful!" Yvette giggled, a mad little sound that sent chills down his spine. Just as suddenly as it had begun, the girlish laughter stopped, as if somebody had flipped a switch in her head. "Now, we have preparations to make. We must see to it that our guest will be comfortable when she arrives. She has such a heavy burden. Aren't we nice people, relieving her of this burden?"

One more lie was was nothing to him. Not anymore. "Of course, Yvette. We are nice people."

"She'll come. And then she'll know how nice it is, not being able to bear children!" The blond slammed one fist against her stomach, her expression wrathful. "I couldn't have his baby. She won't either. Not his, and not anybody else's!"


	7. Where Is She?

**Summary: **Zack's a playboy, and noted ladies' man. His parents despair of him ever finding a nice girl and settling down. So what will their reaction be when he introduces them to his fiance? Set in MysticSpiritus' AU.

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Dagger, Zack's parents' names, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it?

**Queen's Quornor:** This was "Meet the Parents," but I think a title change is in order. The angst starts in this chapter. There is a graphic bit towards the end. I didn't write all of it, simply because I couldn't. But it's necessary to the plot. Just a fair warning...

Where Is She?

"Come on, Ak..." Zack paced around his room, nervously listening to 'U Ur Hand' for the fiftieth time in a row. "Pick up the phone..."

When Akalara had told him she was going to Gongaga for the weekend, Zack hadn't thought twice about it. She could defend herself verbally as well as physically, and furthermore she had become very good at hiding her baby-bump. His parents were completely charmed by her personality, so there wasn't much chance of their cover being blown. Besides, he had a mission to do for the Shrine that weekend. He couldn't go with her anyway, not on such short notice.

When Leihaen had called earlier, he had answered all the usual questions and inquiries about his life and listened to more plans for the wedding. Then he had asked to speak with Akalara.

His heart had dropped into the pit of his stomach when his mother asked him why he thought she was there.

As it turned out, Leihaen had never invited Akalara to come to Gongaga for the weekend. She had learned all that she needed to know from their short visit and the nightly phone conversations; there was no need for an overnight stay so she could get to know her better.

So who had called last Wednesday? Why would anybody want to trick her into going to his hometown by disguising their voice as his mother's?

More importantly, where was Akalara?

The SOLDIER had been trying to reach her for the past hour, calling her cell phone over and over and over again. But there was no luck. Either she wasn't answering the phone, or she couldn't.

Zack had a terrible feeling it was the latter.

"_Fucking Hell!_" he yelled, hearing his fiance's answering service pick up again. Snapping the phone shut, he circled the perimeter of his room once more, digging his fingers into his spiky black hair as he tried to figure out what to do next.

Rhianna!

The agitated, worried SOLDIER was out the door a second later, racing through the halls to the Head Watcher's office. Without even knocking, he burst through the door, not caring that he had interrupted the ex-bellydancer and her husband in the middle of...whatever it was they were doing (completely new position on him!). "Lady, I need your help!"

Rhianna shrieked and jumped off her husband, crouching behind the desk so Zack wouldn't see anymore than he already had. Darryl merely sat up, growling menacingly at the younger man. "Zack! Don't you know how to knock?!"

"Akalara's missing," he said simply.

The couple exchanged looks, then grabbed for their discarded clothing. "What do you mean she's missing? I thought she was supposed to be visiting your parents!" Darryl exclaimed, pulling on his pants. "And for the love of pete, _turn around and shut that door!_"

"Mom's not the one that called her," Zack explained, obeying the older man's demand. "In fact, neither Mom nor Dad have seen her since I took her out there to meet them."

"Then we need to find her fast. Any idea who in Gongaga would want to call her out like that?" Rhianna asked, slipping into her shirt.

The SOLDIER shook his head, still facing the door. "No idea. Mom, Dad, and Dagger are the only people I've introduced her to, and none of them would want to do anything to her."

"Darryl, go get Kuja and Kandi. Sephiroth, Vergil, and Reno, too. But not Gwen; she's not supposed to get out of bed yet." The Head Watcher looked at the worried SOLDIER. "You go inform Kagome of Akalara's disappearance. And see if you can contact Zexion; he may be the Shrine's OB, but he can still sniff people out if they're in darkness. I'll try to get some answers from the Other Side."

ZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZA

Within a half-hour, everybody had gathered in the Head Watcher's office. Sephiroth had arrived a bit later than the others; upon hearing that one of her best friends was missing, Gwendolyn had attempted to leave her bed, despite the doctor's orders. The silver-haired general had been forced to put her to sleep with materia.

All of them were extremely worried. The incident with Rude and Kandi was still fresh in their minds.

Since Rhianna was still attempting to use her gift of foresight to figure out where the missing pregnant woman was, Kagome had taken the role of leader. "Kuja. Vergil. Do either of you have any spells that could tell us where Akalara is?"

Kuja thought for a moment, then tentatively nodded. "There is one divination I could use, but it's a very unpredictable spell. It might not give me anything, or it could tell me everything."

"Cast it, as soon as you can. Vergil?"

The half-demon shook his head. "I am a warrior, not a sorceror. The sleep spell is really the only one I know."

"Zexion. How close do you have to be before you can sense somebody? Before you pick up their scent?"

Silver/lavender hair swished as Zexion mirrored Vergil. "I must be in the general area. If you get me with two miles of Akalara, I can lead you to her."

"Kandi, Reno. Do the Turks have any sort of tracking devices on each other?"

"GPS locater, connected directly to the cell phones." Kandi beamed, albeit nervously. She hadn't stopped stroking her womb since she found out what was wrong. "I designed it myself."

"There was a subdermal tracking chip system Bossman recently approved. All of us were injected with one." Reno pulled on his ponytail, a sure sign of his anxiety. "But it's not field-tested yet; we don't know if it actually works or not. It did in lab tests, but..."

"Get to some computers that will locate the chips. Go back to Shinra. Find her!" Kagome turned to Rhianna as the mystic came out of her trance. "Anything?"

Rhianna shook her head. "Nothing. Whatever's going on, the Paths of Time are confused, haphazard. There are several outcomes, and none of them are certain. Only one thing is for sure."

"What's that?" Zack asked, voice tight with worry.

The mystic bit her lip. "Akalara's life, and that of the baby, is in grave danger."

ZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZA

"So this is the whore? Zack's little slut?"

"Of course it's her. Why would I bring you the wrong woman?"

"Because you are a brainless dolt, that's why!"

Akalara shifted, unobtrusively testing the ropes binding her hands and ankles. She had been trained to escape bindings both metal and non, just like any good Turk. Unable to see, unable to speak, she could only rely on her ears as a method of identifying her captors, and hope they wouldn't notice what she was doing.

No good. The knots were very tight, extremely complex. Not even Tseng would be able to slip out of these ropes.

She had gotten jumped on her way into Gongaga. Some of the local monsters had attacked the car, but she had dispatched them with ease, one bullet to each ugly head. Then, when she went for the ignition, somebody had cast Sleepel on her. Or at least, that's what she thought happened. She remembered getting really sleepy all of a sudden, and her last memory was of hitting her head on the steering wheel as she fell forward.

When she awoke, she had found herself gagged, blindfolded, and tied up with two people arguing over her. Akalara had no idea where she was, but she figured she was still in the general area of Gongaga. Normal sleep spells just didn't last long enough for her captor to have transported her more than a mile.

Unless he or she had cast it multiple times...

Akalara opted not to think about that dire possibility, instead concentrating on identifying the two people exchanging insults. One was a woman, and the Turk genuinely had no idea who she could be. Her voice was that of a happy soprano, but there was an accent to it. A Gongagan accent, just like Leihaen's.

The other was a man, and she definitely recognized his voice. It was Dagger, Zack's old friend.

"So what are we going to do with her?" Dagger speaking.

There was an insane little laugh, a merry cackle that sent shivers down Akalara's spine. She could hear madness in the woman's glee. "Why, I am going to rid her of her burden, of course! After I mess her up a little, that is. She could use a few scars, to make her a little uglier."

The Turk drew her knees closer to her body, instinctively shielding her baby as best she could. _She can't mean... No! She wouldn't!_

"Before you do, I would like to do something to her first."

There was a questioning noise from the woman, and Dagger elaborated. "Zack will be furious, if not traumatized, that his beloved fiance will be found mutilated and empty, their baby gone. He'll be even more wounded when he finds out that she won't be able to have any more children. But think how much more upset he'll be, what it will _do_ to him, if it comes to light that she's been hurt one more way? That his betrothed has been used by another man? It will destroy him, the knowledge that he wasn't able to protect his own woman."

Akalara felt like she was about to vomit. _Mutilated... Empty... Gone... Used... Nonono!!! Please God no! Don't let them do this!_

The woman didn't answer for a moment, then giggled madly. "I like it, Dagger. I like it a lot... Do with her as you will, then. Bring her to me once you are finished."

There was the creak of a door opening, then slamming firmly. Akalara fought her panic, knowing that she had to keep her head on straight, for her sake and for the baby's. She heard Dagger move behind her, and then the blindfold was gone, allowing her to take note of her surroundings. She was in a round stone hut with a single room, a fireplace set in one wall and broken, derelict furniture pushed against the others. There was a pole nearby, and a hole in the ceiling above it, presumably a way to the second floor. The only light came from the hearth.

It was not reassuring at all when Dagger grabbed her under her arms and dragged her backwards, lifting her and throwing her onto one of the beds. Akalara fought as best she could, but all she could really do was roll around and kick her feet together, bound as she was. Dagger backhanded her, hard enough that she saw stars. This bought him enough time to slip her arms over one of the broken pegs that had once been a part of the bed's headboard, cut the ropes binding her ankles, and secure her legs to the foot of the bed with a pair of handcuffs, spreadeagled. Since the bed was built for a man, and Akalara was only just over five feet tall, she was left stretched out as if she were on a rack. Already she could feel her muscles protesting the strain.

The Turk turned her best pleading gaze upon him, silently begging him not to do this. Dagger didn't even look at her. "Mmhy?" she asked through the gag.

"Why?" he echoed. She nodded. "Because Yvette wishes revenge on Zack. She blames him for her inability to have children."

Akalara's eyes widened. _Yvette?! _"Mmhy mie?"

He shrugged and began unbuckling his belt. "He loves you, you're engaged to him, and you're pregnant with his child. She wants him to know what her life is like."

Having succeeded in disrobing from the waist down, Dagger reached for the top of her shirt. Akalara flinched and squirmed desperately as he tore her shirt open and pushed her bra down. "Nice tits," he complimented, palming them roughly. The Turk squealed through the gag; she normally didn't mind a little rough play, but her breasts had become very sensitive since she became pregnant, almost painfully so. This _hurt. _"I can see why Zack fell for you. He always did have a thing for busty women."

She was virtually helpless as he slid his hands down her torso and to the hem of her skirt. All she could do was plead with him to stop, but her cries were rendered indecipherable by the gag.

Dagger paid no attention to her, anyway. He was busy with flipping up her skirt and tearing off her underwear. "Hmm... Nice here, too. How often does Zack fuck you, Ms. Forrest? Do you love feeling his big cock in your little pussy?" Dagger settled between her thighs, staring down at her most intimate charms. "I have to wonder: how tight are you, after sleeping with him?"

Akalara was making a high-pitched whine now, in the back of her throat, one last desperate attempt at begging him not to rape her. _No. No. No. No. No..._

Outside, Yvette smiled as a piercing scream shrilled through the air.


	8. Twisted Memories

**Summary: **Grief becomes self-loathing. Self-loathing becomes hate. Hate becomes madness... It's a race against time as Zack and Co. work to find Akalara before it's too late, and an ex-girlfriend has her revenge. Set in MysticSpiritus' AU. Formerly known as "Meet the Parents."

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Dagger, Zack's parents' names, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it?

**Queen's Quornor:** The subdermal chip is actually based off a real tracking system used for dogs, cats, and (recently) humans. I saw it on Mythbusters recently, and thought I'd add it in here as a way of tracking missing Turks. Yvette really is a sadistic bitch, isn't she? Who do you think is telling the truth: her or Zack?

Twisted Memories

"Any luck?"

Kandi shook her head, staring at a digital map of Gaia. "They must've destroyed her phone. The GPS isn't picking it up anywhere."

Sephiroth turned his attention to Reno. "What about you?"

"Program's still searching. It had to activate the signal remotely first, since Ak's chip hadn't been switched on yet. She was only injected three days ago; the scientists haven't even scanned her to make sure it's working properly. They were waiting for the injection site to heal first." Reno took a drag on his cigarette, needing the relaxing effects of the nicotine badly. "This is the first time the tracking chip system has been used on a human being. It needs a little time."

"We don't _have_ time!" Zack had been pacing in a tight circle ever since they arrived in the Shinra building, occasionally snapping at anybody and everybody for no reason at all. "We have to find Ak before anything happens to her!"

The Guardians exchanged looks. Zexion, Kagome, Darryl, and Rhianna had remained back at the Shrine to convince Gwen not to go charging off after her missing friend once she shook off the sleep spell, allowing the Gaia natives (and two others) to oversee operations in their own territory. The two Turks were utilizing computer technology to track down Akalara, and Kuja was locked deep within his divination spell. Sephiroth, Zack, and Vergil were stuck waiting until they got a lead, and the black-haired SOLDIER's uncharacteristic behavior was getting to everybody. But nobody was willing to confront him about it, knowing the source of his anxiety.

Vergil stepped up to the plate, approaching the younger man fearlessly. "Zack, all of us are worried. But we can't work miracles. Spells and technology need time to work."

Zack swung at him, and Vergil easily ducked it. "What the hell would you know?" he spat, glaring at the white-haired man. "You're a fucking demon! You don't know _shit_ about how I feel!"

Vergil's hand tightened on Yamato's sheath, but he otherwise remained calm. "Do you think you're the only one with the right to worry? Just because you're her fiance?" he snarled quietly. "Akalara's my only friend. She's the _only _person in the entire Shrine who has accepted me without question or suspicion. Even my own twin brother won't turn his back towards me! How do you think it makes me feel, knowing that I can't do anything to locate my best friend while she's in danger? That I failed to talk her out of going out to your hometown by herself? You are her fiance and the father of her child, but I'm in the same situation as you: waiting for somebody else to find her so we can go save her!"

Zack just stared at him, speechless. He'd had no idea Vergil cared so much about his bride-to-be.

Vergil didn't say anything after his outburst. He merely returned to his spot against the wall, leaning back with his arms crossed and his eyes shut.

The awkward silence was broken as Kuja came out of his trance, the spell at an end. "Did you find her?" Kandi asked, pulling a bottle of water out of her jacket and giving it to her fiance.

"I only got a few things from the spell," the wizard answered, taking a long drink. "I sensed a great deal of pain, a lot of blood. Two hearts, beating very quickly. Terror. Uncertainty. Silent screams behind a veil of flesh and fluid. But I did get a name."

"What name?" Sephiroth asked, watching the silver wizard.

"'Yvette'."

Zack froze, purple eyes widening in alarm. "No..."

"Somebody you know?" his commanding officer inquired.

"Ex-girlfriend," he replied shortly, not wanting to go into the private details. Akalara was the only one he'd told... "Is she responsible for this?"

Kuja shrugged. "There was a sense of responsibility connected to her name. But I don't know for certain."

"Did it tell you where Ak is?" Kandi asked, her voice filled with anxiety.

The wizard shook his head. "It's out of magic's hands now. Technology must lead us to our absent comrade."

Somebody upstairs had a great sense of dramatic timing. Reno punched one fist into the air, nearly cracking Sephiroth's jaw. "Got 'er!"

ZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZA

Yvette smirked down at the trembling, sweating body stretched out on the bed before her. The blond skimmed her eyes across the plains of exposed flesh, from the bruised and bitten torso to the trickle of blood seeping out from between wide-spread thighs, and smiled in predatory satisfaction. "Well done, Dagger. Zack will be very unhappy when he sees what has been done to her."

"She is nothing compared to you, Yvette," Dagger complimented, refastening his belt.

The blond's smile turned into a wicked smirk. Dagger was a useful partner. His love for her made him very willing to do whatever she asked, no matter what the deed may be. He would even kill for her, if it meant he could kiss her, touch her, one more time. She was a goddess to him, and he would do anything to make her happy. Yvette had never lain with him, and it was that ethereal promise which kept him coming back to her, no matter what she did or said to him.

He had served his purpose, for now. It was time for her to take her vengeance. "Your praise is appreciated. Now go. I will call you when I am finished with her."

"Of course."

She didn't pay him any attention as he left the hut and shut the door behind him. Instead, she gave her full attention to the helpless female before her.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked, staring down at the green-haired woman. "Has Zack told you about me?"

When she didn't answer, Yvette slapped her as hard as she could. "Answer me, you bitch!"

Her victim nodded quickly.

"So you know how he impregnated me, and how our parents were pushing for a marriage." Yvette's hand involuntarily went to her lower abdomen, her barren womb. "You know how he forced me into an abortion!"

Her eyes caught the condescending, disbelieving look on the green-haired female's face.

"You think I am kidding, Miss Forrest? Is that it?"

The cranberry eyes told her everything she needed to know.

"He never told you, then." Yvette smirked into her eyes, imagining real fear there. Terror in the confident face of her captor. Her terrible and beautiful torturer. She wouldn't have to imagine it by the time she was through with the whore. "I never decided to have an abortion. Zack pushed me into it. He threatened to kill me if I didn't get rid of the baby and call off the wedding. He even accompanied me to the surgeon's house, paid for it with his own gil. He actually _smiled _when the bloody remains of our child slid from my womb!"

She spun away and stalked over to the fire as memories both real and imagined threatened to overwhelm her, clawing at her mind and heart with terrible purpose, scratching at the wall that shielded her very being from madness. Her leaf-colored eyes stared into the heart of the flames while she continued speaking, long fingers absently stroking her lifeless belly.

"The marriage was cancelled, but Zack never told anybody of his involvement in the abortion. I was the one maligned as a murderer, and nobody believed me! They all sided with him, even the surgeon, no matter what I said! Even my own father...

"It hurt me so much, that they didn't listen to me. It caused me so much grief that I became sick. I was sick for a long time, in so much pain... But I finally got better. Everybody forgot what had happened and things went on as they were before, when I was still in school. I even went out with a few guys, just like any normal girl. There was one man, Eldoth..." She sighed wistfully, remembering him as if she had met him just today. "He wasn't like any of the others. He respected me, and treated me well. We fell in love and got married. We both wanted...a large family. But when we began trying to have a baby..." Her fingernails dug into her skin, almost drawing blood, and her voice trembled with emotion. "The abortion made me barren, Miss Forrest. It destroyed my womb, and my marriage! When Eldoth discovered my inability to bear children, he abandoned me for another woman, one who _could_. I loved him so much, and he threw me aside like a piece of trash! Like _filth!_"

Her voice dropped to an evil hiss, the blood-chilling spill of absolute hatred. "And it was all because of Zack. Your Zack. Your future husband. The father of your innocent, unborn child."

Yvette slipped back over to the bed, gazing down on the circular mound rising from the other woman's stomach. She relished the fear in her captive's eyes. It was intoxicating, the knowledge that she had power over somebody else. She would decided whether this woman lived or died, and nobody could stop her.

Reaching out, Yvette began to gently stroke her captive's belly, massaging it as would a lover, or a proud father. "Soon Zack will learn what it's like to be me. He'll lose this baby, and all future offspring. He may love you, he may even still wed you once he gets you back. But he will never gain his legacy through you." She smiled, her fingertips detecting the fine tremble vibrating along the skin of her helpless victim. "But before I take my vengeance, I'm going to rid you of the burden of your beauty. He will lose not only the baby, but his lovely fiance as well. Every time he looks at you..."

She tore into the pale, unmarked skin with her sharp nails, laughing madly at her pained cry.

"He will remember _me!_"


	9. Guilt

**Summary: **Grief becomes self-loathing. Self-loathing becomes hate. Hate becomes madness... It's a race against time as Zack and Co. work to find Akalara before it's too late, and an ex-girlfriend has her revenge. Set in MysticSpiritus' AU. Formerly known as "Meet the Parents."

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Dagger, Zack's parents' names, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it?

**Queen's Quornor:** Maybe I'm a sadistic little bitch. Maybe I just like suspense. I dunno. What the hell am I talking about? Read the chapter and find out! And Kandi's not in this chapter. Due to possibility of risking the pregnancy, she has been convinced to stay behind for this one until it's time to exact revenge.

Guilt

_Zack's head went back, his back arching in a deep curve as the pleasure overwhelmed him, his muscular arms trembling with the effort of keeping him from collapsing. Beneath him, Akalara's body bowed upward to meet his descending form, her nails digging deeply into his shoulders and her head pressing deeply into the mattress. The only indications of their mutual ecstasy were a deep groan and a soft, high whimper, both more eloquent than any scream could ever be. _

_Spent, the SOLDIER lowered himself to the bed on shaky arms, careful to angle to the side so he did not crush his fiance or the life she carried. She shifted so that her head rested upon his shoulder, and his arm curled around to press her more securely against his side. His free hand came up to link with the one laying on his chest, interlacing their fingers loosely. The diamond resting on the Turk's ring finger caught the light from the bedside lamp, throwing rainbow splashes against the ceiling above. _

_Zack pressed his lips against her scalp in a tender kiss. "I love you, Ak."_

_"No you don't."_

_Shocked by her negative response, he looked down at her. "Where did you get that idea? I'm marrying you for a hell of a lot more than the baby, you know."_

_Her beautiful face was gentle, serene. A sleepy smile played about her lips, totally at odds with her assertion. "What baby? There is no baby."_

_"Have you completely lost it, Ak? You're six months pregnant with my child."_

_"No, I'm not. Look." She got to her knees and turned, showing him her body. _

_Zack's mouth worked, but no sound emerged. Where before there had been a smooth, circular mound rising from her body, now was naught but the slender plane of six months previous, the belly of a woman with nothing inside her. _

_Akalara smoothed her hands down her stomach, cupping her empty womb with a sorrowful expression. "I was, though. There was life here, once." Her cranberry eyes flared, glowing stronger than any mako-enhancement. "It's your fault!"_

_"My fault? Why?" Zack couldn't move, though he wanted to. No matter how hard he tried, his limbs would not respond to his call._

_She swung herself over his body, pinning his arms above his head. Her face was a mask of cold fury, of absolute hatred. "You were supposed to protect me!" she snarled. "Me and the baby! Didn't you tell me that, once? Didn't you tell me you would protect us both from harm?" She sat back, glaring down at him. "Oath-breaker."_

_Zack stared up at her, confused and horrified. Afraid. _

_"You abandoned me! Where were you while I was in Gongaga? Where were you while I screamed in agony, while I suffered horrible pain?" She slammed one hand down on his stomach, filling him with sickening pain. "Where were you while our baby died?!"_

_"I didn't know!" he protested. "You went to Gongaga yourself!"_

_"You should have stopped me!!!" The crimson irises were swimming in a sea of red, as if the vivid rings of color were melting. It was only when hot wetness splattered against his skin that he realized she was crying tears of blood. "If you had stopped me, I would still be pregnant. Our baby would still live!"_

_The tears came faster now, painting her alabaster body with glistening crimson streaks, dripping onto his skin and pooling around his body on the sheets. "It's all _your _fault, Zack! You didn't protect us! You killed our baby!" Her body jerked as a gaping wound slashed open across her heart, and blood sprayed from her chest in a macabre fountain of life. She fell backwards, her final words bubbling from her bloody lips in a damning hiss._

_"You killed_ me..._"_

ZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZA

Zack jerked forward, arms reaching for the body of his love in a vain attempt to keep her with him, alive. Instead of Akalara's soft body, his fingers crunched painfully into the hard plastic back of a helicopter pilot's seat. Swearing, he nursed his injured fingers while Kuja and Vergil looked at him inquiringly.

"You okay, Zack?" the Silver Wizard asked, concerned.

"Bad dream," he explained shortly, casting a quick Cure on his fingers.

"About Akalara, I presume?" Vergil this time.

The SOLDIER nodded, unwilling to elaborate.

"She's going to be all right, Zack." Sephiroth twisted around in his seat to face his second-in-command. "Akalara's a fighter. She's strong, a survivor. She won't let anybody harm her or the baby."

"She's not what her captor's after," Kuja muttered.

"What?" Reno didn't turn around, concentrating on piloting the chopper instead. "What are they after, then?"

The wizard brushed some hair out of his face, avoiding eye contact with the others. "Akalara wasn't the target. Whoever took her was after the baby, not the mother."

"Then she'll fight even more. Akalara won't allow harm to come to a child, especially not her own," Sephiroth declared, seeing Zack's eyes widen with terror. He turned back to the front, shifting his attention to their redheaded pilot. "Reno, how much longer to Gongaga?"

"Twenty minutes." The Turk glanced at his altitude meter, then adjusted accordingly. "Then one hour to the chip's location from the landing zone."

"That's too long!" Zack yelled, vividly recalling Akalara's blood-streaked body.

"You don't like it? Then jump! This chopper's a little overweight, anyway," Reno snapped, annoyed with his friend.

Instead of getting mad, Zack just grinned. "Good idea, Red! Where're the parachutes in this thing?"


	10. Scream

**Summary: **Grief becomes self-loathing. Self-loathing becomes hate. Hate becomes madness... It's a race against time as Zack and Co. work to find Akalara before it's too late, and an ex-girlfriend has her revenge. Set in MysticSpiritus' AU. Formerly known as "Meet the Parents."

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Dagger, Zack's parents' names, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it?

**Queen's Quornor:** Twenty-one years old now, and I still have yet to drink. Sad, ain't it? Heh, you know you're in college when your birthday presents consist of cash and booze. Anyway, enough about me. This chapter was so long in coming because I couldn't figure out how I wanted to word it. I scrapped at least three drafts before settling on this one.

Scream

Yvette settled back on her haunches, observing her handiwork with a pleased smile. Her victim bore little resemblence to the beautiful, exotic female Dagger had carried in; her pale skin was covered with slashes and cuts, crisscrossing her front and sides. In some places, the flesh was missing entirely, leftovers from where Yvette had utilized a filleting knife. Her skin was slick with blood, swirled across her body where long fingers had drawn pictures in the crimson spillage. The only area untouched by the knives and blood was her abdomen, the small bulge that held her burden.

"What a lovely mess I've made of you," the blond murmured. "Skin torn away, flesh marred by open wounds, fingers broken, needles beneath the nails..." She gently stroked the green-haired woman's cheek, the caress of a lover. The helpless female made a pathetic sound and weakly turned her head away from the mocking gesture. "He is going to scream when he sees you, Miss Forrest. If not for the hair and eyes, he wouldn't ever recognize you."

Yvette traced circles around the tear-filled cranberry eyes with one long finger. "It's a shame I cannot remove these. But I want you to see how much he pities you, Miss Forrest. I want you to see the revulsion, the torment in his face whenever he looks at you. If he truly loves you, he'll remain with you. But he will never forget the way you used to look, or what he did to me."

Her victim's chest heaved at that, and one tear rolled from the corner of her right eye to disappear into the blood-encrusted hairline.

"Well, I think I have done as much damage as I possibly can to you, Miss Forrest. I think it's time I entertained a new playmate, don't you?"

The cranberry eyes widened and desperate whimpers, indecipherable pleas, tore out of her throat.

Yvette smiled down at her and reached for her tools. The wordless begging increased in volume as she removed kitchen utensils and common hardware from the bag, and then disentegrated into muffled sobs as she ran her hand across the small mound of her stomach.

"What shall I do first?" Yvette mused. "I don't want to kill it just yet..."

AZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZA

As soon as he touched down, Zack tore off the parachute and took a look around. "Reno said the chip was thataway, right?" he demanded, gesturing off to the west.

"That's correct." Vergil dug into his pocket and pulled out a purple star with a tormented, ugly face in the center as the SOLDIER hurried over to him. He sighed as the star melted into his skin, feeling his inner devil rejoice at the small addition to its decreased power. While Zack had played paratrooper, Vergil had simply transformed into his demonic form and flown to the forest below. "Come on. Lady Rihanna and Kuja's visions trouble me."

"You and me both," Zack mumbled, fitting a piece of materia into his armlet. "Haste."

Vergil shivered as magic washed over him. "What did you do to us?"

"Just come on!" The SOLDIER took off, almost immediately disappearing into the foilage. Vergil blinked, then ran after him, realizing what the spell had done. They were now moving at twice their regular speed, something he could normally only do in devil form.

_But will it be fast enough?_ he worried.

AZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZ

Yvette paused in her task as her phone went off. "One moment, Miss Forrest. I'll be right back," she informed her victim, laying the drill down on the bed beside her hip and crossing the room to her purse. The cell phone was dug out and placed to her ear in short order. "Hello?"

"Yvette, we have a problem. Zack and some other guy are on their way here, moving fast."

She scowled at the fireplace. "How far away are they, Dagger?"

"Ten minutes, I think. But at this speed, they could be here in five."

"Fine... I'll finish up with our guest here. You get back to Gongaga."

"Are you sure you'll be..."

"I'll be _fine,_ Dagger!" she shouted. "I can take care of myself!"

There was a sigh on the other end of the line, and then "I'll see you back in town, Yvette."

The blond hung up the phone and put it away, then turned her leaf-green eyes back to the bloodied woman stretched out on the bed. "Well, Miss Forrest. It seems that you are in luck. Your baby won't have to suffer." She crossed the room quickly and picked up a steak knife, relishing the way her victim's eyes bulged at the sight of the serrated blade.

Just as her arm went back, the green-haired woman let out an ear-splitting shriek, audible despite the gag in her mouth.


	11. The Stench of Blood

**Summary: **Grief becomes self-loathing. Self-loathing becomes hate. Hate becomes madness... It's a race against time as Zack and Co. work to find Akalara before it's too late, and an ex-girlfriend has her revenge. Set in MysticSpiritus' AU. Formerly known as "Meet the Parents."

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Dagger, Zack's parents' names, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it?

**Queen's Quornor:** More angst, I'm afraid... Will there be a happy ending? We shall see. However, the boys are on the scene! But are they too late?

The Stench of Blood

"That's Ak!" Zack took off before the scream faded from the air, even faster than Vergil believed the human capable of. "We're coming, Ak! We're coming!"

Vergil sorely wanted to remind his counterpart of the importance of the element of surprise, but he didn't. At the moment, all the SOLDIER was thinking of was his woman and his unborn child (not that he blamed him). He couldn't be bothered to think about things such as not letting their abductor know he or she had company. So, he raced after the younger man, ready to chase anybody who tried to get away from them.

It only took a few minutes to follow the echoes of the feminine shriek to its source, though it seemed an eternity to the anxious men. They came upon a round stone hut, one of the abandoned habitations of Gongaga long since cast aside in favor of more modern dwellings, and immediately pulled up short, trying to figure out which one held the missing woman.

Vergil breathed deeply, taking in the many scents of the jungle in this area. Demons had a more developed olfactory sense than humans, even mako-enhanced ones; perhaps he could smell her out.

It wasn't as difficult as one would think. The metallic tang of blood choked the air of one particular hut on the far side of the clearing, thick enough to twist his insides with foreboding. "That one!" he declared, pointing towards the hut in question.

When Zack looked at him askance, the half-demon gave him a quick shove. "She's in there! Go!"

"Aren't you coming?" the SOLDIER called, already heading in the indicated direction.

Vergil narrowed his eyes, noting a quick flash of blond hair disappearing into the trees behind the hut. His hand tightened on Yamato's sheath, the thumb pressing lightly against the hilt. "I'll meet you back at the Shrine. I've got some hunting to do."

AZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZ

Zack skidded to a stop outside one of the huts, violet eyes widening as the scent of spilt blood hit his nostrils. For the scent to be this strong, especially through a closed door, there would have to be a great amount of it splashed inside this building.

Heart pounding, stomach twisting with dread, the black-haired SOLDIER pushed open the portal and stepped inside. It was dark in the hut, but the mako coursing through his veins kicked in a second later, allowing his vision to pierce the shadows as easily as it had outside.

The first thing he noticed was a large bed, built for a man of Sephiroth's height at least. And lying stretched out on that bed was...

_"Ak!!!"_

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Yvette giggled as the pained cry drifted to her ears. Zack must have found his freakish girlfriend, and realized what had been done to her. And surely he would be told who was behind her decidely _altered_ appearance; she had been certain not to cause any injuries that would become life-threatening.

Should the slayer of her child come seeking revenge, though, he would be sorely disappointed. Yvette had no intention of remaining in Gongaga, despite what she had promised Dagger whilst formulating their plans. Too many people knew her here, too many could give her away. Once she retrieved her car, she would flee to the caverns of Mt. Nibel; she could lose herself in the extensive cave system there, and come down to the village at the base of the mountain whenever she required supplies. Nobody knew her in Nibelheim, and Zack would expect her to flee to the ends of the planet. He would not expect her to move just across the mountains, a few hours away.

The blond wondered if her green-haired guest had aborted the baby yet. Her mind's eye entertained a fantasy of Zack arriving just in time to watch his fiance scream in agony, witness their lifeless spawn slide from her body in a gush of blood and fluids, and know the helplessness, the pain, she suffered every single day. She ignored the roots and trees around her, seeing only the delicious grief etched upon Zack's chiseled features.

"Stop."

Yvette unconsciously obeyed the command, blinking as she realized that she was not alone. That there was a handsome man with snowy hair and piercing blue eyes standing not five feet in front of her, dressed in black pants and shirt with a thick trench-coat of sapphire silk hiding the rest of his body from view.

And a gleaming length of razor-sharp steel pointing straight in her direction.

She sneered at him, one slim hand on her cotten-covered abdomen. "Why should I?"

"If you do not, I will kill you, and drag your soul straight to Hell, where it belongs."

Yvette laughed humorlessly. "There is no such thing as Hell. Nor is there such a thing as Heaven. With the world we exist in, there is need for neither."

Cerulean eyes narrowed to threatening slits, the gaze of a remorseless killer. "I beg to differ. I am living proof that Hell exists."

The blond snorted. "Then you must be crazy. If there is a Hell, then there must be a Heaven. And if there is a Heaven, there must be a God." Leaf-green eyes lit up as her fingers dug into her belly, into her empty womb. "And if there is a God, I would not have lost my child!"

"You must be Yvette, then," the stranger mused. "Are you the one who abducted Akalara?"

Yvette rolled her eyes and snorted again. "You have the wrong person. I have abducted no one." She turned to walk away, uncaring of the katana leveled at her back.

She had barely taken three steps when excruciating pain shot up her leg, sending her screaming to the forest floor. Thrashing in blind agony, Yvette managed to roll onto her back and glimpse that which had caused such pain.

A ghostly sword protruded from her knee, glowing eerily in the shadows cast by the trees above.

Her assailant paced closer, cold fury gracing his perfect features. "Do not even dare think you will be able to get away with this, Yvette. The stench of blood is all over you. _Akalara's _blood. I would recognize the scent of my only friend anywhere."

She glared up at him, lips pursing to propell a gobbet of saliva at him. "And what will you do?" she demanded through tightly-clenched teeth, fighting the throbbing waves of agony washing over her brain and body. "Kill me?"

"No. I will not kill you." Yvette yelped as a gloved hand fisted in her golden hair, yanking her partially upright. His handsome face, so cold in his rage, sent a shiver of unease down her spine. "As much as I would love to do so, there are too many people who wish you harm on Akalara's behalf.

"You will beg for death long before they have satiated their lust for revenge."


	12. Tears

**Summary: **Grief becomes self-loathing. Self-loathing becomes hate. Hate becomes madness... It's a race against time as Zack and Co. work to find Akalara before it's too late, and an ex-girlfriend has her revenge. Set in MysticSpiritus' AU. Formerly known as "Meet the Parents."

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Dagger, Zack's parents' names, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it?

**Queen's Quornor:** ANGST! Fear not: bloody revenge shall be partaken soon enough. Just be patient, okay, Kandi & Gwen?

Tears

The beads clicked softly as the hands that held them shifted slightly, sliding past each other and the calloused skin around them. Their owner had long since stopped caring about how hard the round, polished stones pressed into his flesh; to his grief-stricken mind, it seemed an eternity since he had taken them from his pocket and began to pray. The discomfort of his body meant nothing, not when his prayers could mean the difference between life and death for the two most important people in his life. 

His fiance, and their unborn child.

Akalara was in emergency surgery right now. Zack had called for Reno as soon as the shock of seeing his love wore off, giving their location and telling him exactly what condition the green-haired woman was in. A quick argument had ensured, resulting in Sephiroth convincing his second that it would take less time and risk to jump to the Shrine than it would to put Akalara in the helicopter fly her back to Midgar's state-of-the-art hospital. One hair-raising journey later, and the black-haired SOLDIER had arrived at the Shrine, already calling for a medical team to get their asses outside. 

Rihanna and Darryl had shot into the hospital wing almost as soon as Zack had sat down, followed soon after by their pregnant daughter. Reno, Sephiroth, Kuja, and Kandi had run in less than an hour later. The anxious friends were standing, sitting, and pacing around the waiting room as they pleased, with the soft prayers of the Head Watcher and Gwen providing a soothing mantra in the face of their worry. A woman's sobs had become an arrhythmic counterpoint to the prayers, as Kandi had not ceased crying since her arrival. She leaned against Kuja's shoulder with his arm around her, shaking with the force of her grief. Not so long ago, she had been the one on the surgical table, in danger of losing her life and her baby. She felt Akalara's pain as if it were her own. 

Zack hadn't stopped praying since he'd set foot in the Shrine several hours ago, his unconscious fiance in his arms. Nor had he ceased crying. He couldn't stop, wasn't even willing to make the effort to try. If one more recitation of the Lord's Prayer and the Rosary, or yet another plea sent to his patron saint asking for intercession, was the one thing that convinced the Holy Father to spare Akalara's life, then nothing short of his own death would stop him from reciting the sacred words all over again. He hadn't even thought to change out of his blood-soaked uniform (which was no longer as filthy as it had been before. Kuja had cast a minor cantrip to remove the blood upon seeing the haggard appearance of the younger man). 

The SOLDIER was startled out of his devotions when a large, firm hand touched his shoulder. Lifting his head, he found himself looking at Darryl, who was holding a bottle of water. "Here," the mercenary muttered, proffering the container. "You sound like you could use a drink."

Zack started to reply, but all that came out was a hoarse wheeze. He hadn't realized it, but his hours of prayers and recitations had completely dried his mouth and tongue. Transferring his rosary to one hand, he took the water with a thankful nod and quickly drained half the contents. 

"How long has she been..." He couldn't even finish the sentence for the tightening in his throat. 

"Four hours." Darryl sighed and looked over at his feverishly praying wife, and his daughter, who was leaning against Sephiroth much as Kandi was against Kuja. "You know the old saying in cases like this: 'no news is good news'."

Zack felt tears welling again, and blinked rapidly. "All I want to know is if she's going to be okay. That's all I care about," he whispered miserably. 

Darryl glanced at the doors, then sat down beside the younger man and leaned in close. "You don't care about the baby?" he queried softly.

The spiky black head bent forward, leaning over the rosary and water so his eyes could not be seen. "I do. But..." He swallowed thickly, feeling sick and dizzy with fear and guilt. "I..._we_...can make more babies. I can't find another woman like Ak...

"And I don't want to."

ZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZA

Zack glanced up as both sets of doors swung open, admitting one physician and one dark slayer into the waiting room. Vergil gestured for the doctor to speak and took up a place against the wall, ignoring the questioning glance of Rihanna as he did so. The doctor - whom Zack's tired, worried mind now recognized as Zexion - looked around at the room's occupants before turning his attention solely to Zack. 

"Well, I have good news. Akalara made it through surgery, and the baby is all right too. We were able to repair the stab wound made through the uterine wall, as well as the other lacerations suffered by the mother. The baby will probably have a scar of some kind when it's born, but its life is not in danger. Barring unforseen complications, she's going to be all right."

Kandi and Gwen started crying again, but this time with a smile. Kuja, Sephiroth, and Darryl gave Zack tired, congratulatory smiles. Rihanna grinned, then leaned over her rosary again in a prayer of thanks. Vergil merely closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly. Zack, however, wilted into the chair, feeling as if every single bone in his body had suddenly turned to mush beneath the overwhelming sensation of relief.

Akalara was alive!

Their baby was alive!

_They were going to be all right._

"There...is a problem, though."

Zack's head snapped up, violet eyes stricken. "What?"

Zexion licked his lips, the only outward sign of his distress. "While Yuna was examining her, we came across a substantial amount of vaginal trauma and cervical bruising. There was also semen present, which we had compared to your own. It wasn't a match."

Reno's hand tightened so much on his EMR that Zack thought he heard the handle squealing in distress. "Are you telling us she was _raped_?" he snarled.

The short man nodded gravely. "Quite brutally, in fact. There was enough tearing and bleeding that the surgeon had to put in nineteen stitches in that area alone. Thankfully, the rape did not cause a miscarriage, which we would have expected given the amount of bruising. We will be monitering the baby closely for the next forty-eight hours, but for the moment there is little danger of spontaneous termination of the pregnancy."

Zack swallowed the bile rising in his throat. Puking in the waiting room wouldn't do anybody a bit of good, especially not right now. "When can I see her?" he asked, sorely needing to see his love and reassure himself that she was alive. 

Zexion blew some errant hairs out of his eyes. Despite the surgical cap, his hair refused to stay put. "You could probably see her now, since she's in the recovery room. And only one visitor at a time for now, since she does not need the stress of multiple worried friends right now. But I should warn you: she doesn't look quite the same as she did before."

The black-haired SOLDIER rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms, smearing a fresh deluge of tears away. "I don't care what she looks like. I just need to see her."

Zexion nodded and gestured to him, opening the doors for the taller man. As soon as their footsteps faded away, Darryl, Kuja, Sephiroth, and Reno turned to Vergil. 

"So? Give us the scoop."

The half-demon pushed away from the wall, arms still crossed. "She's in a secure location, awaiting interrogation."

"Who's in a secure location?" Gwen glanced over at her husband suspiciously. "Seth, what's going on?"

"Kuja?" Kandi asked, looking from Vergil to Silver Wizard and back again. 

"Do enlighten us, Vergil." Rihanna, still holding her rosary, drew herself upright in an eerie parody of Bossman Tseng's Intimidation Stance Number Six. "Who is 'she'?"

Vergil ran his thumb over Yamato's hilt. "The guilty party, or at least one of them."


	13. Answers and Accusations

**Summary: **Grief becomes self-loathing. Self-loathing becomes hate. Hate becomes madness... It's a race against time as Zack and Co. work to find Akalara before it's too late, and an ex-girlfriend has her revenge. Set in MysticSpiritus' AU. Formerly known as "Meet the Parents."

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Dagger, Zack's parents' names, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it?

**Queen's Quornor: **This chapter has been long in coming, I know. But I have conquered the writer's block, and churned out this chapter despite no help whatsoever from the muses of late! I guess I can't blame the muses; I've been playing Crisis Core every spare moment of the day, so there hasn't been much else on my mind lately. Especially after the fight in the reactor... I was crying the entire time I was fighting Sephiroth. Due to Crisis Core, Genesis has now been added to my Final Fantasy Seven Hitlist. First we have Jenova, then Hojo, and now Genesis for his part in everything that happened to Seph. It turns out I was right, though; Seph was a good man before Jenova got in his head. Anyway, hopefully it won't be long before the next chapter comes up.

Answers and Accusations

Zack swallowed hard as he walked into the recovery room, unconsciously squeezing his rosary while approaching the bed. In the stone hut, he hadn't been able to get a good look at his fiance; nothing had stuck in his mind beyond the fact that she was naked, unconscious, and covered in blood. Back in the waiting room, all he could think about, when he envisioned her, was that she was a broken angel painted crimson, clinging to life with long, broken fingers.

The harsh fluorescent lights revealed the truth his mind refused to accept. If it wasn't for the dark emerald hair, he would never have recognized the woman on the bed as Akalara.

Zack yanked a chair over to her bed and took one of her bandaged hands in his, holding it as gently as possible while staring at her face, not fighting the tears that sprang to his eyes. Not only were the digits broken, but there were holes through the middle of her palms. The thick bandages were already stained a faint pink, as were the gauzy wraps covering her face and upper chest. A blood-pack hung suspended by the heart-rate moniter, steadily dripping into her body to replace the precious fluids escaping into the bandages. How much blood had they given her? How much more would she need?

Zack didn't dare lift the blanket. He didn't want to see what had been done to the rest of her body.

The one area relatively free of stitches and bandages was her stomach. There was one large square of gauze taped to the lower part of her abdomen, as well as a fetal heart-rate monitor, but other than that her stomach was untouched. Whoever had done this to her had focused more on Akalara than the baby she carried.

Swathed in bandages and stitches, soaking in her own blood... But at least she and the baby were _alive. _

"Ak..." He rubbed his thumb softly over a naked patch of skin, visible between the wraps. "Who did this to you, babe? Who hurt you? Do you know, Ak? Can you tell me?"

No reply, no motion from the unconscious woman. Not even a twitch of spasming, restless muscle.

The black-haired SOLDIER wiped at his eyes again, still clinging to her hand. "I'm not mad at you, babe. Neither of us thought there was anything in Gongaga that you couldn't handle. If I had known this was going to happen, I would never have let you go. So I'm not going to lecture you or anything, okay?" He gently combed his fingers through the long green hair spread out on the pillow, trying to ignore how his fingers trembled. "Just come back to me, Ak. Open your eyes and let me know you're okay." He kissed her split, bloody lips as softly as he could. "I'm not leaving you until you do, babe. No matter how long it takes, I'll be here when you wake up. I promise."

ZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZA

_...9, 10, 11, 12, 13._

_1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13._

Yvette finished yet another circuit around her cell and immediately began on another one, counting her steps while listening to the distant screams echoing throughout the hallway outside.

13 by 13 by 13...

A cell of unluck.

She had little idea of where she was. She was in a prison cell, that much was obvious. But exactly where this prison was... All Yvette knew was that the man in the blue coat had taken her through some sort of hole in midair, then deposited her in here before healing her knee and disappearing through another hole.

Now she was alone. All alone...

Save for the screams.

_...5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13._

"Is that her?"

Yvette whipped around to the bars separating her from the rest of the world, and her heart sank. Standing outside the cell was not only the man responsible for her capture, but also the famous General Sephiroth of the Shinra Army and Reno of the Turks, glaring at her through the bars. Behind them were two women, one with light brown hair and the other a true brunette with red streaks in her hair. Another man, silver-haired like Sephiroth but far less muscular, had his arm around the red-streaked woman's shoulders.

"Yes. That is her." The wintery cerulean eyes of the devil flared slightly as he looked at her. "Can't you smell the blood on her? Even if she is not the one that held the blade, she had a hand in Akalara's pain."

"I can smell it." Sephiroth gazed steadily upon her, and in his expression she read her own death. "She reeks of guilt. But we need confirmation from Akalara before we can punish her."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" The red-streaked woman grabbed Sephiroth by his shoulder and spun him around to face her. "If that bitch has Ak's blood on her, then she's responsible! Which means we get to destroy her ass for hurting Ak, Zack, and the baby!"

"He's right, little canary." The smaller silver-haired man gestured towards Yvette, his face cold. "After all, a woman such as her could not have been responsible for the rape. But..."

"We can still interrogate the _hell _outta her!" Reno snarled, slapping a long metal rod against his right palm.

"Indeed." Sephiroth waved his hand and entered a gaping hole in the hall beside him, then stepped out of a similar one in her cell, causing Yvette to shrink back in fear, hands going to her belly. "And so we shall, until we get confirmation from our friend."

ZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZA

"Zack..."

The faint whisper stirred Zack from the depths of slumber, and brought him fully awake a split-second later. His violet gaze snapped up to Akalara's face, noting the slitted cranberry eyes with a rush of excitement. "Ak! You're awake!"

"Yeah..." The corners of her lips curled upward slightly before she winced. "Hurts."

"I know, babe. I know." The SOLDIER rolled his thumb over her naked skin once more. "Do you want me to call the nurse?"

"No." Akalara's eyes suddenly went wide, and she struggled to sit up, gasping at the pain. Zack held her down as gently as he could, wary of hurting her but unwilling to just let her injure herself.

"Ak, the baby's fine! You're still pregnant, Ak!"

Akalara collapsed back on the bed limply a moment later, indicating that Zack had hit the nail squarely on the head. "She didn't win..." the Turk breathed. "She didn't win!"

_She..._ Zack felt a chill crawl down his back, remembering Kuja's words back in the chopper. "Ak, who did this to you? Who..." He licked his lips, fighting hard to acknowledge a truth he refused to accept. "Who...raped you?"

He flinched, hearing Akalara's breath catch in her throat. Her hands, splinted and slayed wide to accomodate her broken fingers, twitched slightly before the first one rose to blanket his own. Looking up, he was the silent apology in her dark crimson eyes before she opened her mouth.

"Yvette. And..."

"Who, Ak? Who?" Zack rose off the chair to lean over the bed, urging her to tell him the culprit's name. "Who else hurt you?"

"Dagger."

The SOLDIER froze, eyes wide upon her stricken face. "_Dagger?"_

Tears filled her cranberry eyes. "He's the one that suggested it," she whispered. "I don't think the idea had occured to Yvette... He said it would be a better way to hurt you."

Zack knelt beside the bed, hesitantly reaching down to lay one hand on her softly rounded belly. He needed to touch both Akalara and the baby right now, ground himself in the present and what had happened rather than immedaitely discount her damning accusation against his lifelong friend. "Why would he want to hurt me?"

"She said..." A teardrop slipped from the nearer eye to soak into the bandages. "Yvette said you are the one responsible for her abortion. That you pushed her into it, and because of that she got sick. Lost her ability to have a baby. Lost her husband."

Zack stared into her torn, bandaged face, wide-eyed with shock. "You don't..._believe_ her...do you, Ak?"

Her head moved slightly on the pillow. "No, Zack. She's crazy. Not sure why Dagger's helping her." The cranberry eyes closed, and a fine tremble shook her body. "Hurts."

The SOLDIER's heart softened even more, and he switched out one of the materia in his armlet for another. "Here, babe. This should tied you over until Yuna and Zexion give you some healing. Sleepel."

Akalara gave him a grateful, tiny smile before her eyes drooped, and a moment later she relaxed into painless slumber. Zack dared to lean down to press a kiss to her brow before standing up and walking a short distance away, pulling out his cell phone. A certain number was hit, and when it finally picked up he heard the distinct sound of slapping in the background. "Kandi?"

"Is Ak okay?" the Turk demanded.

"She woke up, and she's going to be okay. I just put her back to sleep, since she was in a lot of pain. I found out who did this to her, though." He turned, letting his gaze rest on his sleeping fiance as he spoke into the phone, his voice more professional and emotionless then he had ever heard before. "I want you guys to go out to Gongaga and apprehend someone for me. A woman named Yvette."

"Does she have blond hair, light green eyes, and little sanity to speak of?"

Zack started. "How did you - "

"Vergil brought her in right after Zexy told us about Ak. We're all interrogating her right now."

"She's the one responsible for it. Be sure to save a piece of her for me, all right?"

"Of course, Blackspike. But aren't you coming here?"

"I've got business to take care of back home." He hung up the phone and entered a wormhole, violet eyes flaring with mako. "Extremely personal business."


	14. For Those We Love

**Summary: **Grief becomes self-loathing. Self-loathing becomes hate. Hate becomes madness... It's a race against time as Zack and Co. work to find Akalara before it's too late, and an ex-girlfriend has her revenge. Set in MysticSpiritus' AU. Formerly known as "Meet the Parents."

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Dagger, Zack's parents' names, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it?

**Queen's Quornor: **This chapter gets really, REALLY graphic towards the end. Not in a sexual way, but in a bloody-violence-Hostel-reminiscent way. I apologize for the delay in posting this chapter; I had it written, but I've been busy with my latest fic, "What Might Have Been." You know, plot points, exerpts that'll show up in future chapters, what happens where and when, the usual. Oh, and I tried to do a little more with materia here, since I got inspired by Crisis Core. I prefer the Thundaga and Assault Twister materia, but these two are pretty amusing as well.

For Those We Love

He found him sitting in their favorite spot on the hill overlooking the decrepit old power plant outside of Gongaga, occupying the sunken tree trunk with his back to him, lost in thought. Zack merely watched him for a moment, unable to think of him, his childhood friend as the sort of sick monster that would force himself on unwilling, helpless women. Especially his old friend's fiance.

But the evidence was too damning. As plain as the marks on Akalara's tortured body.

"Dag," he called emotionlessly.

The other didn't flinch. "Zack," he replied tonelessly, still facing the plant. "So I guess this means you know."

"How could you do that, man? Rape a helpless woman, _my_ woman, just to hurt me? I thought we were best friends."

"People grow, people change. Best friends drift apart." Dagger shrugged, still gazing at the abandoned structure. "As for Akalara..."

"Don't even say her name," Zack warned. "I'm serious, Dag."

"Have it your way. As for your bitch, I just wanted to get laid. She was convenient. And I _liked _it. She was so tight around me, and she never stopped screaming."

"Stop it," the SOLDIER gritted out, balling his fists at his sides.

"Did you know blood is really slippery? She was as dry as a bone at first, but after a few thrusts she was so slick it felt like she was enjoying herself. When I finally pulled out I almost wondered if she had bled that much when she lost her virginity. Did she, Zack? Did you like seeing her blood on your cock as much as I did on mine?"

"I said stop it!" Zack quickly put some distance between himself and Dagger, afraid that if he remained in arm's reach, he'd snap his old friend's neck. "That was my woman you raped! My fiance! My _pregnant _fiance! How could you have done this to her? _Why?_"

"I already told you, I wanted to get off. And your woman is one hot little piece of ass." Dagger pulled one of the knives out of the bandoleer he wore across his chest and played with it, picking dirt from beneath his nails. "But more that that, you hurt the woman _I _love. So I decided to get back at you by doing the same."

"What, Yvette?" Zack crossed his arms and leveled a very cold glare at the seated man. "I had nothing to do with her abortion. You were the first guy I told when I found out, remember? I was fucking crying when we came out here and I told you she'd killed my baby."

"But she wouldn't have needed an abortion if you hadn't gotten her pregnant, Zack."

"It's not like I just up and decided to knock her up, Dag. That was my first time; I didn't know anything about birth control. I was still under the impression that you couldn't get pregnant or get a girl pregnant if it was your first time."

"But she still got pregnant because you couldn't control yourself. So she got an abortion. But the surgeon didn't do the job right, and Yvette got sick. That sickness resulted in her infertility, which led to the breakup of her marriage." Dagger contemplated the knife, still avoiding his old friend's gaze. "I comforted her as best I could, but it wasn't enough. Do you know how hard it was, watching her slip further into insanity every day? I wanted to help her get better, but she just kept getting worse. Yvette fixated on you as the reason her life was in shambles, even convinced herself thta you forced her into the abortion."

"And you went along with that bullshit?" Zack asked quietly, trembling with anger.

"I love her," Dagger confessed, staring down at the power plant with tired eyes. "I'll never be able to tell her, because I'm not a brave man. But I thought that if I helped her get revenge on you, then she'd realize how much I care about her. And before you ask, I stopped thinking of you as my best friend when I saw how you had affected Yvette's mind. You hurt her badly, even though you didn't intend to." He twirled the knife between his fingers idly. "You hurt my woman, so I hurt yours. Simple as that."

"Dag, I didn't make her get that abortion. I wanted that baby, even though I wasn't ready for marriage yet. It killed me when she murdered it." Zack noticed the tension in Dagger's shoulders, and prepared himself for a quick reaction.

"That may be true. But you're still the one who drove her insane!"

Dagger whipped around, and the knife came flying for Zack's throat. The SOLDIER sidestepped it, and the blade buried itself hilt-deep in a nearby tree. He drew his Buster Sword just as his former friend rose to his feet, one knife held reversed in his hand.

"I don't want to kill you, Dag. But I am going to make you answer for your crimes. Rape and kidnap and child endangerment, as well as accomplice to attempted murder."

"You still don't get it, do you?" Dagger chuckled, settling into a ready stance. "Akalara only got hurt because she was the vessel. Yvette wasn't after her, specifically. She was after the baby!"

He charged Zack then, swinging the knife in an attempt at slashing his neck open. The Buster Sword snapped up and redirected the smaller blade harmlessly away with a metallic ringing noise. Dagger skidded to a stop well away from the SOLDIER, out of his immediate reach.

"How did she know Ak was pregnant?" Zack demanded. "She wasn't showing when we came here, and I never told anyone!"

"Lucky guess. Or maybe I told her. Who knows?" Dagger snatched another knife out of his bandoleer and held it ready between his fingers. "But in her mind, you killed her baby and stole her ability to create and carry more. So, she gets revenge by killing yours."

"I had nothing to do with that abortion!" Zack shouted, violet eyes glowing fiercely.

"You were the father of the baby! To Yvette, that makes you as good as guilty!" Dagger threw one knife at Zack and rushed him again, intending to stab him while the SOLDIER was distracted by the missile.

But he pulled up short as a materia in Zack's armlet shone for a second and the black-haired man sprang high into the air, far out of reach. Dagger yanked out another knife, fully prepared to test his throwing skills against his former friend's luck.

Another materia glowed, and a sudden movement of Zack's arm caused a massive block of ice to form directly above Dagger's head. The vengeful brunette threw himself to the side in a roll, a move Zack had taught him when they were kids, avoiding the heavy crystalline chunk with ease. He came back up ready for whatever trick the other man was ready to play, knives in hand.

"Pathetic, Zack!" he sneered. "You know my reflexes are - !"

Zack's true intentions became clear then, when the SOLDIER plummeted back to the earth blade-first, sending a massive shockwave of energy tearing through the ground. Dagger was thrown off his feet, landing face-first in the dirt close to the edge of the overlook. He started to get up, but found himself frozen in place before he could do more than raise his upper body, unable to even twitch.

Zack's footsteps shook the ground beneath his prostrate form, the weight of his rage preceding his approach with the effectiveness of heralding trumpets. Dagger merely stared at a clump of grass. "You won't be able to move for awhile. You're stuck in time, so to speak."

The steps halted at his side. "A man who forces an unwilling woman is not truly a man at all. As far as I'm concerned that means you don't deserve this." A steel-toed boot nudged at the underside of Dagger's hip, at the very edge of his groin, sending a wave of panic through his brain. "But I just don't hate you enough to castrate you, Dag, despite what you've done. You get to keep that."

Dagger would have sighed in relief, but his ordeal wasn't over yet. He felt the icy, merciless tip of Zack's enormous sword against the small of his back, right in the middle of his spine. The thin triangle of steel traced down his vertebrae, scratching along the skin with the merest of stinging pains, before settling lightly between two of the rounded bones.

"You always loved running through these hills, didn't you, Dag?"

Dagger couldn't scream, writhe, or even clutch at the dirt for support. He was totally at the mercy of his nerves as a sickening, burning agony shot through his entire body. Then his waist and legs went chillingly numb, blissfully free of the pain, and the brunette realized what Zack had done.

He'd severed his spinal cord from the waist down.

"You stole my fiance's security, and may have trained her mind to associate the physical act of love with your disgusting, despicable crime. You could have killed our baby, even without Yvette's help. Ak's probably never going to be able to set foot in Gongaga without remembering what you and Yvette did to her. The least I can do is prevent you from harming her, or any other woman, ever again. Your days of skirt-chasing are finished." Through the awful agony that yet held his upper body in its grasp, Dagger heard Zack settling his sword on his back. "My dad'll be here soon. He's going to take you back to town, where you'll receive a wheelchair and a visit from some nice officers. They, Dad, and Father Sebastian all agree with this method of punishment, since I told them what you did to Akalara."

The footsteps trailed away a short distance, then stopped. "Consider yourself lucky, Dag. I could have killed you or left you here to die, unshriven. At the very least, you have your life."

As Zack disappeared into a wormhole, Dagger's scream of pain, betrayal, and loss echoed throughout the countryside to the uncaring heavens above.

ZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZA

"Well gents, Ak finally woke up." Kandi strolled back inside the cell, flipping her cell phone shut and putting it back in her pocket.

"What did she say?" Gwen asked, staring hard at the bruised, maddened blond thrashing against the wall. Sephiroth had jammed a long, sturdy rod of steel into the wall about six feet in the air and curved the end into a sort of makeshift hook. Reno had locked a pair of handcuffs around Yvette's wrists and tied a gag around her mouth, then connected a short length of chain to the buckle; right now, the blond hung helplessly from the hook, her head forced into an upright position by the links wound through the gag. The most anybody had done to her since putting her up there was slapping and spitting on her.

The red-streaked woman flashed her attentive comrades a truly evil smile. "She says this bitch is the one that nearly killed her and the baby."

"That so?" Reno smirked, aqua eyes flashing. "Kuja, gimme something hot, willya?"

"With pleasure." Kuja cast a spell, transforming their surroundings into a true torture chamber. Smokey braziers of fiery coals squatted in the corners of the cell, racks and shelves of ominous instruments and tools hung from the walls, and an old-fashioned wooden rack preoccupied the center of the room, empty and awaiting its terrified victim. Against the far wall, a stone sarcophogus stood partially ajar, flickering firelight illuminating the razor-sharp needles filling the interior. Ironically, the lid of the sarcophogus was painted to resemble a weeping angel.

Vergil took in the new appearance of the cell with obvious approval, cerulean eyes steady on the filleting knives resting on a stainless steel table. "You have good taste in pain, Kuja."

The Silver Wizard nodded, watching Reno drag a flat, empty pan beneath Yvette's feet. They had drawn straws before coming to the Castle that Never Was, and the redheaded Turk had gotten the short one. He got first crack at the bitch that had hurt their friends.

Reno grabbed a small shovel from its place near one of the braziers and began scooping coals into the pan, tight-lipped and silent. Yvette, unable to move her head, could no more than listen to the rough scrape of the shovel and the hiss of the briquettes as they tumbled into the pan. The heat was almost unbearable; she instinctively curled her legs high, raising her tender, naked feet away from the danger. Reno laughed cruelly and threw the shovel aside, drawing his EMR and setting the ampage to 'Shock'. "You got a real dilemma here, bitch," he snarled. "That's a shitload of red-hot coals under your feet, and they can melt your skin off in an instant. Cook 'em in under a minute. So you wanna keep 'em out of those coals, you see? But as long as you do, my baby here bites your tootsies." He flicked the switch on, making the EMR thrum with electricity. "How long you think you can hold out, bitch? Hm?" Reno touched the tip of his weapon to the big toe on her right foot, making her jerk and tuck her foot beneath her body, a little closer to the coals. The same treatment was applied to the left foot, accompanied by a symphony of muffled squeals and shrieks from Yvette. Smirking, the redhead applied his EMR to her knees and feet and toes, slowly forcing the digits closer to the pan until the soles of her feet were only inches away from the coals.

"Looks like I'm gonna win, bitch," he snarled lowly, still wearing that creepy smirk. "You wanna keep your feet, doncha? You wanna be able to walk out of here someday?" Yvette nodded vigorously, tears streaming from her leaf-green eyes. "I see." Reno retracted his EMR and upped the setting, increasing the juice until the weapon literally ran with lightning, lines of sparks crawling up the length of steel. "That's just too bad. Because I'm afraid that after today, walking is going to be damn near impossible."

The EMR was touched to the small of her back. Yvette stiffened reflexively at the shock, her entire body going ramrod straight. This reflex buried her feet deeply into the coals, and the fiery heat engulfed the limbs to the ankle. Even the gag couldn't silence the agonized scream that erupted from her throat a split-second later. She struggled to raise her legs, get her feet out of the makeshift brazier, but Reno had already switched off his EMR and now used his empty hands to hold her in place, one pressing down on her knees, the other firm against her back. The burning continued for some time, with the redhead jiggling his victim a little whenever her screams tapered off, causing her feet to drag against the coals once more and excruciating pain to accompany the movement. At last, the Turk kicked the pan out from under her and moved back, after pressing a mocking kiss to Yvette's cheek. "Kiss it and make it better," he whispered, aqua eyes smoldering with hate.

The next in line was Gwen, who had been watching with eager green eyes. She had already picked her weapons of choice, a pair of pliers and a long, thin knife. The onna-bugeisha stepped forward and peered down at Reno's handiwork with satisfied cruelty; Yvette's feet were little more than blackened lumps of flesh and bone, the flesh splitting open in painful-looking cracks and crevasses. "I'd definitely say you won't be using those any time soon," she commented casually, waving at the ruined feet with her knife. "But you know what? I think there's more to be done there." Gwen raised one of the blond's legs and straddled it backwards, facing the foot and trapping the calf between her thighs in the manner of a farrier shoeing a horse. Yvette couldn't see what she was doing, but the others had a perfect view. "Didn't Zexion say that it looked like needles had been jammed under Ak's toes, Seth?"

"Not only the toenails, but also the fingernails," Sephiroth agreed.

"Let's take that concept a step further, what's say? I wonder if there's any nerves left in here at all..." Gwen sheathed the knife in favor of the pliers, tenderly cradling Yvette's burned foot in her left hand. She paid no heed to the pleading whimpers keened from above. The pliers latched onto the nail of the big toe and tugged experimentally, eliciting another, louder cry from the blond.

A piercing shriek rang out as the nail was completely ripped out and thrown aside. The cries did not cease as the treatment was repeated, nine more times. "Guess you didn't completely destroy her nerves down here," Gwen commented to Reno, reaching for her knife. "Which means I can do this now." The knife's needle-like tip dug into the exposed nailbeds, carving deeply into the sticky, raw flesh. Over the course of the next few minutes, ten little X's were sliced where Yvette's toenails had once been. The entire process was then repeated on the blond's fingernails, making her _really _scream. At last, Gwen set her pliers and knife aside, joining Reno against the far wall after slapping her victim hard.

Kandi stepped forth, her hands empty. She made a show of examining the weapons and tools, rubbing her chin thoughtfully and casting appraising glances at the hanging woman. "Can you guys put her on the rack for me?" she asked in an overly-sweet voice. "I'd imagine it's really hard to breathe, hanging from her hands like that. I'd like to hear her scream."

"Of course, my little canary." Kuja recited something arcane, and Yvette rose limply off the hook to float over to the rack. Unseen hands unlocked her cuffs and threaded her wrists and ankles through the ropes at the top and bottom of the table, cinching the bindings tight as Kandi selected something and turned back to the helpless woman.

"So you can't have children anymore, huh?" The red-streaked woman hid her tool of choice behind her back, a teasing smile playing about her lips. "I guess that means you don't need certain bits anymore. You don't strike me as the type who knows what actually feels good and how to make herself feel good, anyway." She walked around to the bottom of the rack, studying Yvette's legs with a studied air of nonchalance. This was a special type of rack, one that left the hapless victim spreadeagled so one leg could be stretched out separately from the rest of the body. Now, however, it would serve another purpose. Kandi had already told her fiance and friends about what she planned to do, and had their full approval. Vergil, in fact, was the one who had put the idea in her head by telling her about a certain barbaric surgery done to some women on Earth.

Kandi took her hands out from behind her back, revealing the chosen instruments: a rusty, sharp straight-razor, a string of fishing line, a thick needle, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. "Did you know that in some cultures on this one world, young girls have to have a type of surgery before they are considered women? It's a rite of passage, thought to have basis in religion. But in truth it's unnecessary, cruel, and dangerous; there are no religious commands or passages or verses or whatever that says it has to be done. In particular, it severely affects a woman's ability to deliver a baby and totally destroys any chance of pleasure during sex. The theory is that it's a way for men to control their wives and daughters, and prevent them from having children by other men." She carefully lifted Yvette's skirt and cut away her panties with the knife Gwen had left behind. "Normally, I'd say such a thing should never be done to a woman, no matter who she is. But in your case, since you had somebody rape one of my best friends and you can't have kids anyway, I think this is justified."

Gwen and Kuja flinched and looked away as Kandi reached for the razor. Vergil merely leaned against the wall, pondering what he would do to Yvette when his turn came up. Reno and Sephiroth looked on coldly as the rust-pitted blade was raised high, then brought down swiftly. Yvette, for her part, arched against the binding ropes on a scream of unprecedented strength. Kandi ignored them all, continuing her cutting and slicing methodically. After a minute or two, the razor was laid aside and the needle threaded with fishing line. The screams continued as the needle repeatedly dipped and resurfaced, then went up another decibel when the red-streaked woman dumped the entire bottle of rubbing alcohol over the cinched, sealed area. "It's called female castration, bitch. And you just received the full treatment." Kandi coolly left the rack, taking her instruments with her. After replacing them on their shelf, she went to Kuja and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face against his neck. The Silver Wizard held her and whispered soothing words into her ear, knowing how difficult that had been for her, while Vergil approached their victim.

He stalked in a circle around the blond, cerulean eyes raking over her bloody, trembling form. "Akalara is my only friend," he commented idly. "She accepted me without reservation, despite her knowledge of what I am and what I've done. I have come to think of her almost as a sister. In fact, she has asked me if I would like to be an uncle to her baby." The white-haired man came to a halt at the foot of the rack, a foot away from where Kandi had been standing a minute ago. "I haven't been able to give her my answer yet. But in truth, I am going to accept. She has become a member of my family in a way, because she is somebody I care about and would give my life to protect. And now she is hurting. She and her baby are both in pain, because of _you_," Vergil hissed. "You've sensed that there is something different about me, haven't you? I know you have, Yvette. I have that effect on humans. Every human in every division can sense the blood of their ancient enemies, those who would destroy them and dance across the ruins of their lives while their world burned." He leaned closer. "Do you want to see what you have been picking up on?"

Yvette, leaf-green eyes wide, shook her head wildly.

Vergil smirked and tightened his grip on Yamato. "You don't have a choice. You see, the choices you make in life can lead you in one of two directions at the end of your existence. Heaven or Hell, one might say. And I'm afraid the decisions you have made will result in a very unpleasent situation. The location you will inhabit for the remainder of eternity is filled with beings even more unsettling than one such as I." He shrugged. "I think it's best that you receive a warning of that which awaits you now, so that you may prepare for Hell."

There was a bright flash of azure light, and suddenly Vergil's human form was replaced with something entirely new and decidedly inhuman. Horns curled from his brow, leathery wings fanned upon his back, and hooked claws flexed as glowing blue eyes stared into Yvette's horrified face. Lethal fangs flashed as he smirked evilly. "The sad truth is that I am one of the more human-like devils in Hell, Yvette. And there are very few of my species. Just think about that for a moment; if I am terrifying, what could the others possibly look like?"

The green eyes squeezed shut, and a high-pitched whining trickled past the gag. Vergil merely laughed, his resonant voice echoing throughout the cell and sending chills down everyone's spines. "It's no use trying to forget what you have just seen, Yvette." The blond jerked helplessly as he reached out to touch her cheek, a mockery of a lover's tenderness. "Humans cannot forget their nightmares, even when the images are shoved to the back of their minds. I will stalk you in your sleep, an eternal reminder of that which awaits you at the end of your life." He dug his claws into her cheek, ripping the flesh casually away. "Although, I am unsure how long that life might be. For all I know, you might be introduced to my distant kin before the night is over." Vergil removed his hand and flicked the stubborn pieces of flesh and blood yet clinging to his claws away, then ended his Devil Trigger and resumed his human form. Nodding to Sephiroth, he returned to his place against the wall, ignoring the somewhat frightened and awed looks given him by the others.

The silver-haired general approached the rack now, Masamune in hand. Yvette didn't even realize her hellish antagonizer had tagged out until the flat of the legendary katana was laid atop her naked thighs. Leaf-green eyes flew open to stare at the length of steel, and quickly traveled to meet Sephiroth's peridot eyes.

"What is the old rule? 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'?" he queried. "Zexion offered us a complete description of the torments suffered by our friend at your hand. If memory serves, the report stated that several areas on her body are currently devoid of skin, and will have to receive grafts in the near future." He adjusted the blade slightly, until the very edge was cutting into the skin layer and no deeper. "I think it's fitting that you suffer just as Akalara did, don't you?"

With that, Masamune was swept smoothly downward. The razored edge of the blade performed the service of a carpenter's plane, removing the top layer of flesh and exposing the slick muscle beneath as Yvette cried out anew. The skin was flicked to the floor and soon joined by more, as Sephiroth continued to skin her legs and arms and stomach. Once he was finished, he spat into her face and joined Gwen against the far wall.

Kuja released Kandi from his arms and glided forward, already whispering a spell. His hands began to glow with energy, bright enough to attract the nearly-comatose Yvette's attention. "You surrendered your child to death," he accused. "Zack told us the truth of things some time ago, while we were still praying for the lives of our comrade and her unborn child. As a result of your decision, you lost your ability to procreate. And so you tried to impress your pain on another, as vengeance for a crime never committed. Now, you shall know what it is like to be a mother anew."

He pressed his palms against Yvette's lower belly, and before her astonished eyes, her belly began to swell. Within seconds, she was in the final stages of the gestation period, only days away from delivery. Gratitude shone in her face as she directed her gaze towards the silver-crowned man who had given her this unparalleled gift.

He stopped her with one upraised finger. "Remember the surgery performed earlier? The consequences of such a deed? Vaginal delivery is quite impossible now, since there is too much trauma to the area. So, a ceasarean must be performed." Another spell, and an unseen knife ripped across her belly. Her engorged womb was lifted high in the air, and cut free before the incision was closed. "But the child is stillborn. The life was lost before it even exited your body. And this was not because of an abortion, oh no. This baby died because there was no life to sustain it."

Her uterus immediately shrank, shrivelled, and fell to her belly in a stream of dust. Kuja glared coldly at her, watching her mind attempt to process what had just happened. "There is no room for anybody save you in your heart and soul. You were too selfish to carry your child before, too wrapped up in your own materialistic desires. You could have carried the baby and given it to another, somebody who would cherish it for the precious gift that it was. But instead you murdered it, and immediately returned to the behavior which resulted in your pregnancy in the first place as if nothing had occurred. And so you have been punished for your sins. No child will ever be born to one such as you."

Kuja started to turn away, but then stopped and looked at her once more. Yvette was shaking now, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes, on the very brink of sanity.

"You should know, Yvette, that a simple Regeneration spell would have cured your condition. Had you thought to ask for that spell, or found a materia that held it, your ability to conceive and carry a child would have returned in full measure."

He walked back to Kandi just as the broken woman's sobs began.

They exited the cell to find Xemnas, the castle's Superior, waiting outside. "So is she to receive the same treatment as the other?" he inquired, nodding at Yvette.

"No," Sephiroth replied, interrupting Kandi's question before she could ask it. "She is to remain here until further notice, but is not a permanent guest."

"What is your estimation of her time here?" the whiskey-eyed Nobody asked.

Sephiroth shrugged. "My guess is that her time here will end once our friend's superior and fiance arrive. One will be somewhat merciful, but I know for a fact that the other will not spare her life. Isn't that right, Reno?"

The Turk nodded grimly. "You fuck with one of us, you fuck with all of us," he recited, folding his arms. "Me and Kandi have both had our turns, and Ak's too injured to get her revenge. So it's Bossman's turn now, and he won't skimp on the pain, if I know him." A wicked smile flitted about his lips, making his eyes flash. "For her sake, I hope he does it quick. Some of those Wutaian torture techniques... Whew!"

"She doesn't deserve 'quick'," Gwen snapped.

Reno continued to smirk. "I never said she did. I'm just saying she'll wish it was quick."


	15. Broken Love

**Summary: **Grief becomes self-loathing. Self-loathing becomes hate. Hate becomes madness... It's a race against time as Zack and Co. work to find Akalara before it's too late, and an ex-girlfriend has her revenge. Set in MysticSpiritus' AU. Formerly known as "Meet the Parents."

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Dagger, Zack's parents' names, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it? The Turk motto belongs to Amazon.

**Queen's Quornor:** I am of the belief that Tseng has patented an Intimidation System. There are seven levels to it, each T.I.S. (or Tseng Intimidation Stance) characterized by different postures and tones of voice. All are more scary and unnerving than the last, and are utilized according to the situation. For example, getting Elena to shut up would be a T.I.S. #2. Telling Zack to finish flirting with the lady secretary and get his ass up to the briefing room would be T.I.S. # 1. What he used on Rude in AmazonTurk's "Caged Canary" would be T.I.S. #7; another example of that all-powerful stance would be his conference with Principal Torvis in "Turk Teacher Conferences". We still have another chapter to go after this, so don't think this is the end!

Broken Love

"Are you sure you're up to this?" Tseng asked, pausing outside the cell to look at his companion. "If you would rather not, and go back to Akalara, I would not look upon you poorly."

Zack sighed slowly, then offered the Turk leader a rueful smile, his violet eyes tired. "You gotta face your demons sometime," he muttered, shrugging.

"All right. Just remember: you are free to leave at any time." Tseng waited until Zack opened a wormhole into the cell, then the pair entered the impromptu torture chamber.

The SOLDIER wasn't exactly sure what he had been expecting. He hadn't seen Yvette since he'd left for the military, or heard anything about her following her marriage. But to see her now, a comatose ruin of a human woman, was enough to stop him in his tracks. He was aware of his friends' earlier activities, but...

Tseng approached the rack, removing a small vial from his jacket and pulling out the cork. The substance was waved beneath the blond woman's nose until she was dragged back to the waking world, twitching and squirming. Coldly, he removed the smelling salts and replaced them in his pocket, watching the leaf-green eyes fluttering, attempting to focus.

Zack leaned against the wall, in the shadows. He watched Tseng unbuckled the gag from around Yvette's head, ignoring the signs of torture scarring her mostly-nude body. This was the woman responsible for Akalara's brush with death, the woman with an insane vendetta against him for the baby _she_ had chosen to kill. She had almost taken the lives of the two people most precious to him, and slain his first child. Thus, she deserved every ounce of pain she had and would suffer this night.

But like Dagger, Yvette had once meant something to him. She had been his first crush, his first lover, and his first fiance. A person he had grown up with, seen every day until he left. She had been the first woman he had knocked up. So despite his thirst for revenge, it still bothered him to see her like this.

Hidden in the shadows, Zack watched Yvette work her mouth, trying to work up the spit to remove the taste of cheap rubber from her tongue. Tseng merely studied her, hands clasped behind his back, in Tseng Intimidation Stance Number 5. When Yvette regained some sense of her surroundings, he cleared his throat.

"Greetings, Yvette."

She rolled her head to the side, staring at him through glazed green eyes. "Hello."

"Do you know who I am?"

She shook her head slowly.

"I am Tseng of the Turks, the leader of that group."

Zack noted the mixed aura of awe and fear that Yvette gave off then. She seemed more lucid than he had been led to believe. As if she had regained a measure ofher sanity sense his friends had left her alone.

"Can you guess why I am here?" Tseng waited as the blond shook her head once more. "As I stated, I am the leader of the Turks. You are probably aware of our station, but I shall remind you. We are a small, elite group of people charged with the protection of Shinra's public image and corporate personnel, as well as scouting out SOLDIER candidates. We are also assassins, because that falls under our duty of protecting Shinra's interests." The Wutaian man stepped closer to Yvette's head, pulling something out of his pocket and hiding it in his palm. "Because of this task, trust and camaraderie are critical attributes. We trust each other with our lives, in both everyday life and situtaions we know could result in our deaths. Most people do not have the skills necessary to become a Turk, so it is always difficult to replace a member of our group when we lose them."

"Are you asking me to become a Turk?" Yvette slurred.

Tseng turned his coldest glare upon her, making her shrink back against the rack. "From this moment on, you will not speak unless I give you leave."

"And if I do?"

The Wutaian did not reply. Instead, he turned from the rack and plucked a pair of tongs from a hook on the wall. These he used to stir up one of the braziers, sending a loud of orange embers flying for the ceiling. He selected a suitable coal, glowing cherry-red, and brought it to the rack, holding it threateningly over Yvette's skinless midriff. "Have I made my point clear?"

The blond nodded vigorously, eyes wide. She feebly attempted to suck her stomach in, away from the coal, but was hindered by the pain of her exposed muscles and newly-acquired hysterectomy scar.

"Good. Now then. Because trust and camaraderie are so vital to our occupation, we Turks protect each other. Even in matters that do not involve the company, we always have each other's backs. My collegues have a motto, in fact: 'you fuck with one of us, you fuck with all of us'." Tseng leaned down, chocolate eyes boring into leaf-shaded. "Can you guess why I am telling you this?"

Yvette shook her head.

Tseng lifted his hand, revealing a Shinra I.D. card with a familiar picture on the right side. "Read the name and occupation listed on the card, aloud."

The blond licked her lips, visibly shaken. "ShinRa Electrical Power Company, Department of Administrative Research. Operative: Akalara Forrest. Title..."

Zack saw her swallow, hard. "Rookie Turk, Level 2," she whispered.

"Do you understand why you have received the honor of my presence?" Tseng asked, low. "The woman you tortured was not a mere paper-pusher, contrary to the explanation given to Mr. and Mrs. Fair. She is a member of the Turks, with all the status and privileges accorded allocated that position. Had you not nuetralized her so quickly, she would easily have killed you."

He leaned back, tracing the coal abover her body, mere inches away from her flesh. "Not only is Akalara a Turk and a Guardian, but she also has acquaintances within SOLDIER. One of those friends has already left his mark on you." The tongs dipped slightly above the exposed muscles of her thighs, teasingly bringing the coal closer for a second. "The other should be extremely obvious to you, considering that he was your ultimate target in this crime."

Zack pushed off the wall, entering Yvette's line of sight. He stared down at her with his arms crossed, eyes cold chips of softly glowing ameythyst. "Hello, Yvette," he greeted, his voice flat.

Yvette's pretty face morphed into an expression of pure hatred. She pursed her lips and spat at him, the gobbet falling far short of its goal.

Her efforts were rewarded by the coal making brief contact with her skin. Zack listened to the scream impassively, waiting until she was good and finished. Once she had quieted somewhat, he began to speak his piece.

"It seems that you forgot exactly what happened between us. I was thirteen, you were fifteen. You asked me to come over to your house while your old man was out, and then shoved me onto the couch the moment I walked in the door." His gaze was steady on her face, hiding the emotions boiling beneath the surface. "I didn't know about birth control. You must not have thought to use some. Either way, it led to the same outcome; we had sex, and I came inside you. Two months later, your father dragged you to my house with a positive test. We were forced into an engagement, due to wed as soon as Father Sebastian got back."

He leaned down to her, violet gaze trapping her flickering green one and forcing his words to penetrate the veils of insanity obscuring these events from her mind. "But you didn't want to marry me, did you, Yvette? You weren't ready to stop whoring around with our school-mates, or to quit partying every weekend. You didn't want to spend the next nine months sharing your body with someone else, or commit to a boy two years your junior. The only thing standing between you and freedom was our baby. And how convenient that a retired surgeon lived nearby. So you took all the gil in your account..."

Yvette twitched violently, and the madness rose in her eyes. A choking sound strangled its way from her throat, causing Tseng to lower the tongs a single inch in warning.

"You went to his house. Gave him the gil..."

She squeezed her eyes shut, tossing her head from side to side. Small whimpers filled the air, a final attempt at blocking out both Zack's voice and the threat of the coal.

"You paid him to rip our baby from your womb, Yvette. I didn't know about it until your father called off the wedding, the day after you dragged your sorry ass back to your house."

"You forced me into it!" Yvette exploded. Tseng brought the coal to her flesh, but the words did not cease spilling from her lips. "I wanted that baby, and you threatened to kill me if I didn't get rid of it! You went with me! You were _laughing _when my baby died!"

Zack shook his head slowly, swallowing back the bile summoned by the stench of seared flesh and the blond's tormented cries. "Abortion never occurred to me, Yvette. I've always cherished the lives of children, and unborn babies are included in that category. I was willing to marry you for the baby's sake, at _thirteen years old_; it completely shocked me when I found out you'd had it sucked right out of your body."

Yvette couldn't reply. She was too busy screaming.

The SOLDIER moved across the room, facing the weeping angel leaning against the wall. "I think about that baby whenever I see a pregnant woman on the street, or a really little kid. When Ak first told me she was pregnant, she was so scared... She reminded me of you, Yvette. I thought she was going to get an abortion, too. It killed me to think that this was happening all over again, and this time with a woman I genuinely cared about." Yvette continued shrieking, but Zack ignored it, lost in his inner dialogue spoken aloud. "But things went differently. We started dating and I proposed. Actually, _she_ proposed. Said she was tiredof waiting for me to ask." He chuckled, remembering Akalara's sincere face as she stared up at him, down on one knee, the love in her eyes belieing the playful tone of her voice. "These last months with her... I've never felt so happy. But you wanna know something?"

Yvette whined in the back of her throat, shivering violently when Tseng pulled the coal away; her flesh clung to the briquette stubbornly, tearing away or snapping back as it wished. Zack looked at the floor, one hand rising to clutch at the crucifix hanging with his dog-tags. "Because I love her so much, I'm terrified of losing her and the baby. The idea of anything happening to either one of them kills me." He whirled to face the blond on the rack, violet eyes shining like beacons in the flickering shadows infesting the cell. "I have to congratulate you, Yvette. For making my nightmare a reality."

He heard whispering out in the corridor, and in his peripheral vision there was a flash of silver hair; a moment later, a dark portal opened at the front of the rack, where Yvette could easily see it. Her eyes bugged as a tall, handsome man stepped out of the darkness. His name slipped bidden from her chapped, split lips.

"Eldoth..."

Zack nodded, sauntering over to the newcomer with a lazy air. "Your ex-husband. The man you love. The guy that left you because your decision to abort our baby destroyed your uterus. He wanted kids, and you couldn't have any. So you lost him. Then, to get revenge on me, who you superimposed over your memories as the villain, you convinced Dagger to kidnap Akalara. You let him rape her."

He stoped at her side, glaring down at her and reaching over his shoulder for the hilt of his sword. "But you didn't stop there. You tortured her, and tried to stab our baby. You came damn fucking close to killing them both. To murdering my heart, my future."

The Buster Sword flashed firelight as he slung it off his back effortlessly, stalking over to the motionless Eldoth. "You almost killed the two people I love the most in any of the damned worlds. So I'm going to kill the guy who mattered the most to you."

Yvette fought the ropes wildly, jerking like a fish as the SOLDIER hefted his blade. "No! No! Eldoth!" She screamed, realizing that her beloved wasn't going to run. He just stood there, watching a place above her head. "_Eldoth!_"

Zack swung. Eldoth jerked slightly. Yvette cried out.

Then blinked. Her love was standing at the foot of the rack, perfectly healthy and in one piece. His chocolate eyes closed and reopened once. Twice.

He simply fell apart.

Zack and Tseng watched the blond woman shatter before their eyes. There were no screams this time, only a helpless whimper. No sanity remained in the leaf-green eyes, no soul to speak of.

The Turk took the coal and pressed it over her heart, the skin curling and blackening into a twisted mark in an instant, but no reaction was given to the action. The blond felt nothing, because there was nothing with which to feel.

Zack cleaned his sword slowly, without haste, while Tseng unbound their captive. He slung her over his shoulder to hang boneless, as a sack of potatoes, and carried her to the angel-graced sarcophogus in the corner. Zack pried open the lid, revealing the sea of long needles standing neatly on both sides of the container. The blond was carefully leaned against the interior of the sarcophogus, and no protest arose as the needles pricked her back, her legs, her head. She merely stood therein, soul-less and broken.

Zack stepped to the side, letting Tseng take his place at the lid. "Hey Yvette?"

No response.

"You should know something." There was more whispering outside, and the body on the floor transformed into a pile of silvery-white cloth, an odd insignia displayed prominently where Eldoth's head had been. "Eldoth is still alive."

Life flared in her eyes once more, just as Tseng pushed the iron maiden shut.

ZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZA

Akalara sat up slightly, watching Zack come back into her room with subdued cranberry eyes. "What did you do to them?" she asked quietly.

The SOLDIER didn't reply. Instead, he yanked a chair over to her bed and sat in it, wriggling one hand beneath hers so his fingers pressed against the unbandaged, untouched region beneath her splinted digits. Once contact was made, he leaned forward so his forehead rested against the gentle swell of her belly, so lightly. Akalara's heart went out to him; he never truly enjoyed harming people, especially not when he somehow knew his opponent as a person rather than just The Enemy. Exacting revenge on Dagger and Yvette, two people he had grown up with and once cared about, could not possibly have been easy for him.

"They won't hurt you ever again, Ak." She felt a single hot droplet splash against her skin, roll down her side to disappear into the sheets. "You don't have to worry about them, I promise."

The forest-haired Turk wetted her lips, wanting to offer him comfort, but unable to do so. And even if she could, she didn't know that Zack would be willing to accept it; he needed to get this out, but he wouldn't tell her what fate had been given to her attackers.

So she merely lay there, letting him use her as his pillow, his tears silently soaking into her flesh and the bed beneath her, as the hours passed.


	16. Epilogue

**Summary: **Grief becomes self-loathing. Self-loathing becomes hate. Hate becomes madness... It's a race against time as Zack and Co. work to find Akalara before it's too late, and an ex-girlfriend has her revenge. Set in MysticSpiritus' AU. Formerly known as "Meet the Parents."

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Dagger, Zack's parents' names, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it?

**Queen's Quornor: **Sorry Mystic, but I had to change her name. Zhaira's already been used in another of my fics. Since I took so long to update this fic, I figured I'd go on ahead and put the last chapter up. Now, I have a question for all of you: since Amazon and Mystic have done blooper reels for their fics from this AU (well.. Not Mystic, but she's done them too), would you like me to do one, too? It wouldn't be a problem, but I'm not sure if you guys are sick of seeing them or not. Whatcha think?

Epilogue

_20 years later..._

Tired blue eyes watched the days come and go from a rickety old porch. Just the same routines, day after day after day. The sun set, the sun rose, and the people walked to and fro before the house, not a glance spared for the man swinging on the porch.

And that was just the way he liked it.

It had been twenty years since that day. The gossip-mongers had long since moved on to newer topics, bigger scandels, dirtier news. But every so often a group of kids, a pair of teens, or a gaggle of old ladies would stop at his gate and watch him, their voices hushed and afraid or loud and mocking. Scornful.

He had served his time, been absolved by the Church. But word still got around, inspiring hatred, fear, and pity in the next generation.

The Lord had forgiven him. Man, however, was not so generous.

Mathias ran a hand through his thinning hair, watching a rented SUV glide to a stop in the Fair's driveway with both curiosity and apprehension. He had watched similar vehicles park at the elevated house for two decades now, sometimes at holidays, other times at random times throughout the year.

The doors opened, and four children of various ages, from five to fifteen, tumbled out of the SUV and ran up the path to their grandmother's open arms. Well, all but the oldest one. She slouched up to the house and submitted to a welcoming hug without reaction, hands jammed into the pockets of her black, chain-hung pants. All but the youngest child had their father's ebony hair. Mathias couldn't see what color their eyes were from here.

Following the children came a petite woman he easily recognized. The forest-shaded hair had grown down to the backs of her knees, but as far as he could tell, she remained the same as in his memories. Mathias' eyes lingered on her as she entered the house, a toddler perched on her hip. The baby had black hair, but it seemed different from that of her siblings. Not a glance was flicked in his direction as the green-haired woman disappeared through the doorway.

He didn't blame her.

Mathias reached over to pick up his iced tea, ignoring the emergence of the final members of the brood. He had watched the family grow first with hatred, then jealousy and resentment. Now he wished them only peace and good will, feeling great sadness as he offered them silent congratulations on their prosperity, as had become his custom. The hatred had died, and now Mathias held a small gratitude for the father of this teeming brood. In stealing his mobility, he had given him limitless time to think. To understand. And finally, to atone.

The remaining members of the family moved away from the SUV, but did not go to the house with the others. Instead, they descended the driveway and began walking towards his dwelling. Mathias merely watched their approach, assessing them both. He had never had the opportunity to see any of them up close, and so only knew their hair color and styles, and a little bit of the individual fashion senses of the family members.

The man had changed very little since their confrontation, twenty years ago. He had a little more muscle than Mathias recalled, and his hair had gotten longer, but age had affected him very little. Perhaps it was the mako in his veins that kept him young and hale; Mathias did not know.

His companion was a young woman, beautiful with long emerald hair pulled back in a high ponytail, her long bangs falling messily over her eyes. She had her father's eyes, lined with black kohl. The woman was tall and voluptuous, and upon her back rode her father's trademark sword. At her hip was a gun, snug in its holster.

She was a perfect melding of her parents' physical attributes, and apparently their different skills as well.

The pair stopped at his gate, and Mathias leaned forward to press a button on the pad of his empty chair's right armrest, allowing the gate to swing wide and admit the visitors. They stopped at the base of the ramp, not setting foot on his lonely porch.

"It's been awhile, Zack," he greeted.

"Likewise, Dag," the SOLDIER returned.

Mathias shook his head. "It's Mathias now. I left that name behind along with the boy, a long time ago." He nodded to the house at the end of the road. "I see you're doing well."

Zack gave him a small, proud smile. "Ak and I have been blessed. We've got six kids, a nice home in Midgar, and hopefully we can retire in a few years, since we've also got a nice amount of cash saved away. She's a senior Turk and I was promoted to the rank of general a couple years ago."

"What are their names?" Mathias asked, leaning back in his swing and sipping at the tea.

"Well, Takara's the youngest. We adopted her after her parents died last year."

"Lovely name. Is she Wutaian?" Mathias inquired, pushing against one of the swing's supports to set himself gently swaying.

Zack shook his head. "Japanese."

Mathias shrugged. He'd never heard the term before.

"After her, there's Sohl, the twins are Terra and Trace, and our resident angsty teenager is known as Shasta, but her real name is Kitara. Finally, there's this lovely lady." He squeezed the woman's shoulder warmly. "This is Zafirah, SOLDIER Second Class and our firstborn."

Zafirah nodded to him, running the fingers of her right hand over her left bicep, drawing Mathias' attention to a deep scar slashing across the muscle. A very old scar. "I'm the one your girlfriend tried to murder," she supplied softly.

Mathias looked away, his blue gaze automatically going to his wheelchair. Emotions welled for a moment, and then calm acceptance returned. "There is no excuse I can give you, Zafirah," he told her. "People say that I was brainwashed by my love for Yvette, that I was as much a victim as your mother. But I made my own choices. I regret what I did and what it cost me. I can only say that I am sorry, to both of you."

Purple eyes gazed steadily upon him from behind a veil of stray emerald strands. "I forgave you a long time ago, Mathias. Mom hasn't, but I have."

Zack said nothing.

"You have a generous heart, Zafirah." Mathias finished his tea and set the glass on the table. "I wish I could take it back, you know. It's not the loss of my lower body that I regret the most." His eyes went to the man standing at Zafirah's side, wishing things could be different between them. "It's the loss of my best friend. I hope you can forgive me, Zack. Someday. But I'm not expecting you to."

Zack took a deep breath and turned away. "C'mon, Z. You saw him. Now let's go."

"One sec, Dad." Zafirah gestured towards the wheelchair. "Need a hand with that?"

Mathias could get back in his chair by himself, but he recognized the young woman's desire to demonstrate her forgiveness, both to him and her father. "I could use one, if it's no trouble to you. The brakes on this thing sometime decide to go fishing and forget to tell me."

Zafirah grinned and stepped onto the porch. She slipped her arms under Mathias' arms and knees, effortlessly scooping him up and depositing him in his chair. Once he was situated, she unlocked the brakes for him and moved back so he could turn the chair.

Mathias rewarded her with a smile. "Thank you, Zafirah." He then noticed a silver ring on her finger, a polished turquoise oval shining brightly. "I take it you've got yourself a young man?"

She blushed a little, her smile growing tender as she lifted her hand so he could better see the ring. "Yeah. He gave me this when we started going steady. It's a promise ring."

"He must be a very special man, if he's committing to you this young."

The blush deepened slightly. "Kujito is special. He's...like me."

Mathias wheeled himself towards the door, another button causing his front door to swing open. "You'd better not let him get away, Zafinah. Men like that don't come along too often. And you're welcome to visit anytime you like. I could use the company."

Her violet eyes flared for a moment, but her smile told him the aggression was prompted by her feelings for this Kujito, not anger towards him. "I don't intend to let him go anytime soon."

"Z! You coming or not?" Zack called.

"Coming!" Zafinah turned back to Mathias, the man who once loved her attempted murderer. "I'll come see you when I can. Bye!"

She ran to join her father, with Mathias' warm brown gaze upon her back. He would forever regret his past actions concerning Yvette, Zack, and Akalara, but he had come to appreciate the plan God had for his life.

Everything had turned out all right.


	17. Grief and Madness of the Author

**Summary: **Zack's a playboy, and noted ladies' man. His parents despair of him ever finding a nice girl and settling down. So what will their reaction be when he introduces them to his fiance? Set in MysticSpiritus' AU.

**Disclaimer: **Akalara, Yvette, Father Sabastien, and the baby are the only things I own. Got it?

**Queen's Quornor:** Reno here! I found this jammed in the back of Queen's desk, and after remembering the good times we all had making this story, I thought I'd embarrass her by posting it for all to see! Besides, she threw out all my cigarettes. I need revenge.

Grief and Madness of the Author

_**(Screen flickers, goes black, then focuses in on a nose. The owner of the nose walks away from the camera and sits in a massage-chair, kicking back and putting up the footrest. He is lanky and tall, with bright red hair pulled back in a ponytail. Two other massage-chairs flank his. One is currently occupied by a white-haired man with piercing cerulean eyes and killer six-pack abs, a fist-sized red jewel hanging from a silver chain around his neck. The other chair holds a shorter man in tight black leather, his silver hair flopping over the right half of his handsome face. Unlike the other two, he seems to be purring.)**_

**Reno: Greetings one and all to this very special addition to "Grief, Hate, and Madness!" I am your host, Reno of the Turks, and these are my cohorts, Dante and Kadaj. **

**Dante: Kill the ego, Red. We're all hosting this show. **

**Reno: Who's the one who provided the massage-chairs? Hmm?**

**Kadaj(**_**still purring with eyes closed**_**): He's got a point...**

**Dante: Fuck off, shrimp. **

**Kadaj: You're just jealous because Queen's been spending more time with me than you lately.**

**Reno: Knock it off, guys! We're trying to show a respectable piece of blackmail here!**

_**Dante and Kadaj burst out laughing, followed soon after by Reno. The camera dips, landing somewhere in the vicinity of the floor. Dante gets up and readjusts the camera. **_

**Dante: Does anybody have a stick or something we could use to keep this thing up? **

_**Reno and Kadaj shake their heads. Dante sneers at the camera, then returns to his seat.**_

**Reno: Anyway, to get back to what I was saying, several of my collegues were put through a serious grinder during the making of this fic. Now, I'm as fond of Queen as any of us. But, I think it's high time she gets shown as the tyrannical, maniacal, crazy little college chick she is. Why, you ask? Because I owe her for flushing my cigarettes down the toilet. Besides, she doesn't pay us enough.**

**Kadaj: Oh, c'mon. There are a hell of a lot worse places to work than Dark Queen Cinema. **

**Reno: Such as?**

**Dante: Remember her little sister? The Harry Potter fan-freak? At Evil Sibling Underground?**

**Reno (**_**visibly pales**_**): Good point. **

**Dante (**_**rolls eyes)**_**: What Queen doesn't tell you is that she keeps footage of every fic she films. However, outside of the transmissions she sometimes sends along with the fics, you the audience almost never get to see these uncensored, candid moments of the lunacy that goes on here. **

**Kadaj: Reno, as you might have guessed, likes to snoop. And he loves snooping around in Queen's room, since she's a packrat and there's always something interesting to be found in there. **

**Reno (**_**grins evilly)**_**: Like her porn collection. Or the big-ass box of back issues of Dragon Magazine I found the other month. **

_**(Dante and Kadaj both reach over to smack the Turk's arms. The camera droops again. This time, Kadaj is the one who gets up to adjust it.) **_

**Kadaj: Anyway, yesterday he found the movie reels for this fic. You've already seen the final cut, but there's a lot of stuff that went on behind the scenes and on-set that none of you are aware of.**

**Dante (**_**snorting)**_**: Unless you're like the flamers who sneak in here everyday. You'd honestly think that two dogs with three heads would be enough to deter them, but noooo... My Cerberus and the Cerberus she bought from Hades don't prevent them from sneaking in here with their little spy-cameras. **

**Reno: That's why the gargoyles are on the roof. They steal the footage before those morons can get it out. To continue, we have put together the best of the best clips from the reels to bring you this. (**_**holds up a film cannister)**_** Here you will see Queen as the tyrannical dictator that she is, along with choice moments of embarrassment for our collegues here at Dark Queen Cinema. You might call it a blooper reel, but I call it sweet revenge!**

**Dante: There are more than these, but we were unable to put together more than a few before the night was over. Staying in the cutting room any longer would have gotten us caught. **

**Kadaj: You did bring the projector, right?**

**Reno (**_**face falls)**_**: I thought it was already here. **

**Dante (**_**noticing camera drooping again)**_**: Dammit! Can we get some rope in here?!**

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Clip One

_(A director's chair and a camera sit before a small stage that has been divided by a thick wooden barrier. The camera is focused only on the left side, in which there is a bed, a dresser, a nightstand, a telephone, and a lamp. Seated on the bed is Zack. The opposite side of the screen holds a wooden desk, a keyboard and mouse, but no computer moniter. A rolling leather office chair sits before the desk, and is currently being used by Akalara. dantesdarkqueen sits in the director's chair, with Nameless Camera Man (or simply NCM) piloting the lens. A clone of Queen, known as Narratina, sits before a microphone with enormous black headphones covering her ears, a copy of the script open before her.) _

Queen: Okay, people, let's take it from Ak's line!

Zack: Wait, are you sure this isn't the AU where I'm supposed to be pregnant?

Queen (_rolls eyes)_: Yes, I am quite sure! We aren't going to start production on that AU until we've gotten halfway through this fic! We've gone over this already!

Zack: Just making sure.

Queen: I'd think I'd know my own scripts by now. Start filming from your line, Ak, in 3, 2, 1, ACTION!!

"Are you going somewhere with this, Zack?"

He sighed, running his fingers through his spiky black hair. "Long story short, my parents want to meet you. And they talked me into driving us both out to Gongaga this Friday, to spend the weekend with them."

There was a silence on the other end of the line, and then he heard Akalara's chair squeak as she leaned back in it. But she leaned back too far and the chair toppled over, sending the emerald-haired Turk crashing to the floor with a shriek.

Queen: CUT!! Ak, are you okay?

Akalara: I think so... Head hurts like a bitch, though.

Sephiroth _(off-screen)_: Need me to come and make you feel better?

Queen (_glaring in the direction of Sephiroth's voice)_: Seph, the last time she took you up on that offer after an on-stage injury, you kept her busy for five days straight! We didn't get any filming done at all, and I had to make up that lousy bullshit excuse to my readers as to why I took so long to update "A Mother's Love!"

Zack: Um, isn't she supposed to be _my _girl in this fic?

Queen: She is, but in the canon and AU-canon, she's Seph's woman. Er, teenager.

Akalara: I was legal when we met! Eighteen counts as adult!

Narratina (_in a deep, booming voice that sets the furniture and cameras to rattling)_: THERE ARE SOME CULTURES WHERE A GIRL BECOMES A WOMAN AS SOON AS SHE CAN BEAR CHILDREN.

Queen (_covering her ears along with everybody else)_: If you must speak, _please_, for the love of all Holy, talk into the microphone! It muffles your voice!

Zack: What?!

Sephiroth: Why can't I hear anything?!

Akalara: Speak up! I can't hear you!

Queen (_facepalms)_: Well, as long as nobody can hear a damn thing... C'mon, Handsome. Everybody gets an hour-long break! _(drags Seph off to Stage 80085, aka Stage S.M.U.T.)_

Akalara and Zack: WHAT?!

Clip Two

"She was the living definition of the bad Catholic schoolgirl. Yvette was willing to try _everything_. I was thirteen when she decided she was interested in me. What was I supposed to do? A thirteen year old just discovering the joys of jerking off, getting an invite to an empty, parentless house from a fifteen year old with the biggest gazongas he'd ever seen? It was a dream come true at the time!"

"Let me guess. She seduced you, and you lost your V-chip to her." He could hear the jealousy in Akalara's voice over the phone.

"Started as a makeout session, ended with us rolling around on the floor. And let me tell you, it was fantastic! That girl could give better head than any hooker I've ever paid!"

Queen: CUT!! That's not your line, Zack! You're supposed to say 'Wasn't anything to write home about; I can remember lying there thinking _'that's it?' _when it was over'.

Zack: That's not what my script said. _(holds up script)_

Queen: Lemme see that. _(stalks onto the stage and rips the script out of Zack's hand, reading the page quickly)_ This isn't the script! Who wrote this? Reno?

Akalara: Reno's over at AmazonTurk Productions, doing God-knows-what.

Queen (_glares at rafters)_: Yuffie?

NCM: She's not licensed to Dark Queen Cinema, remember? You broke her contract when she stole your emergency supply of Ball Restore materia.

Akalara: Ball Restore materia...?

Queen: Hey, I work with hot guys who weild extremely sharp swords and suffer from an overabundancy of testosterone. And nobody has stunt doubles. So in the event of accidental castration, I have special materia to regenerate the lost parts within seconds. Invaluable to one in my position! I keep one on me at all times, with five back-ups ready in the Medkit.

Zack: Feels really weird when it's used on you. Tingly, but not exactly pins-and-needles.

Akalara: ...thank you for sharing that, Zack.

Queen: Anyway, if it wasn't Reno or Yuffie, who was it?

_(crashing sounds and insane laughter explode onto the set. Yazoo runs across the stage, a wide grin spread across his face and yellow-green eyes rolling wildly. Kadaj follows close after with a bong in hand, face grim with determination)_

Kadaj: Catch him! He got out of his cage again!

_(Zack jumps after the long-haired Remnant, wrapping his arms harshly about his waist and taking him down in a perfect flying tackle. Kadaj skids to a stop beside his older brother and forces the bong between his lips, pinching his nose hard. Yazoo struggles for a few minutes, but gradually relaxes as the drugging smoke fills his lungs. When Kadaj takes the bong away, he is the same Yazoo first seen in _Advent Children_. Zack pulls him to his feet)_

Queen: How did he get out this time? I paid good money for those locks!

Kadaj: _Somebody _forgot to give him his daily pot, that's how!

Loz _(off-screen)_: It's not my fault, Queen! I just left to make a sandwich!

Kadaj: For _two weeks straight?!_

Loz: ...

Queen: Is he the one responsible for the script rewrite?

Kadaj: Who else? You know how he gets when he's suffering from withdrawl and manages to find a pen. Or a computer, for that matter.

Akalara: That would explain where my laptop went. I've been missing it since yesterday.

Zack: Is that why all those chain-letters were in my e-mail this morning?

Queen _(rubbing her temples slowly)_: I don't fucking CARE about chain-letters or a missing laptop. Just get him back in his cage and get your sweet ass over to Stage 80085, Kadaj. I need a migraine remedy.

Kadaj (_shouldering his brother)_: Would that be the Wife of Indira position or the Amazon position?

Queen: In this case, I'll just take The Screw.

Clip 3

Akalara watched him for a moment, then her lips curled upward in her patented mischievious smirk. She leaned forward and placed one hand high on her fiance's thigh. "But if we are late and stuck in the rain, that would mean that we are left to our own devices until such time as the rains let up, correct?"

Purple eyes glanced at her, and an answering smirk grew on Zack's handsome face. "And it would be so boring to just sit here and watch the rain..."

"_Exactly_," she breathed.

He let up on the gas and let the speedometer drop to about twenty-five, watching the blackening sky above as much as the road ahead. Sure, they hadn't been doing anything in their spare time except having sex lately, but he was more than willing for another round. It was no fun being celibate when your partner was in the other room, after all.

Both he and Akalara let out a whoop when the sky opened up with an earsplitting crack of thunder, and everything was suddenly obscured by water. True to the SOLDIER's word, the downpour was thick enough that the headlights could not penetrate more than a foot or two in front of them. Grinning like fools, the two went about their respective activities; Zack pulled the car over and hit the button that activated the roof, shielding them from further soaking of the heaven-borne variety, while Akalara found a good song on the radio at last.

_**I said what what, in the butt?  
I said what what, in the butt?  
You wanna do it in my butt, in my butt?  
You wanna do it in my butt, in my butt?  
You wanna do it in my butt, in my butt?  
Lets do it in the butt, okay...  
**_

Queen: Cut cut cut cut CUUUUUTTT!! All right, who the hell's been messing with the radio?

Zack: Don't look at me, I don't like that song!

Akalara: I like the song, but I didn't pick it! I swear!

Queen: Did Yazoo mess with the radio, too?

Kadaj: No. If he had, you'd be listening to The Thong Song right now.

Narratina (_talking into the microphone this time)_: I know who it was.

Queen: Spill it.

Narratina: Xemnas and Saix. They took that car out last night.

Queen (_eyebrow raised, arms crossed)_: To where, exactly?

Narratina: Lover's Lane.

_(Zack and Akalara scream and kick the doors open, falling out of the car and racing to hide behind Queen's chair)_

Queen (_reaches for bottle of Dasani proffered by NCM)_: Can I get this car sanitized, please? Like, NOW?

Clip 4

The SOLDIER snorted in amusement and pulled back so he could look into his fiance's eyes. "She just wants to make sure it's done right. I mean, I'm her only baby, and she never had a daughter. This is her only chance to oversee a wedding. And for all we know, this might be the only way she knows how to do it. Dad told me Grandma took care of every last detail of their wedding, so maybe it hasn't crossed her mind that you might like to have a hand in planning your own big day."

"And we're going to need all the help we can get, truth be told. We've got to get married soon." Akalara murmured, guiding one of his hands to her mostly-flat belly. "Unless of course, you want them to find out...?"

"I don't think you'd like me castrated, Ak. Because my parents would, you know."

Interlacing her fingers with his atop her womb, the green-haired Turk pressed a loving kiss to her fiance's mouth. "I'd still love you, Zack. We'd just have to spend quite a bit of gil on toys, that's all."

_(voice whispering from off-camera)_: Unless you have Ball-Restore materia...

Queen (_jumps up from chair, brandishes a rocket launcher)_: All right, who's the loudmouth with the death wish?

Voice: Snip snip, off we go! One quick application, and back it grows!

_(Zack points to a place in the rafters. Queen lifts the launcher, which bears a remarkable resemblence to the Kalina Ann, and pulls the trigger. A rocket explodes against the ceiling, damaging nothing but a few stray birds)_

Voice: Humans just never learn. At least the Devil Boy was a bit more intelligent than that! _(high pitched laughter rings throughout the studio)_

Queen _(eyeing ceiling)_: How the fuck did you get in here, you Ringaling Brothers reject?

Akalara: You know who it is?

Queen (_blowing some hair out of her eyes)_: Yeah, unfortunately. It's Jester. _(leans over to whisper into Kadaj's ear)_ Can you get ahold of Dante or Vergil for me? Preferably both of them.

Jester: Your bishies will do you no good, Queenie! No good! I've taken over this studio, claimed the Director's Power! You all shall dance at _my _command now!

Kadaj: No good, Queen! They're both knocked out in their dressing rooms!

Jester: And so, with the power of _this_... (_produces a glowing Manipulate materia, revealing his hiding place in the rafters)_ I shall command your very souls! You shall entertain me with... The Funky Chicken Dance!

_(screams are made, but everybody present, including NCM and Narratina, immediately begin doing the dreaded dance)_

Jester: Now... The Macarena!

Zack _(doing the Macarena)_: You purple-assed bastard!

Jester: For that comment, you all get to do the Numa Numa Dance!

Akalara: You are one hell of a sickass fucker, you big-nosed freak! _(yelps as Jester forces her to do the Rump-shaker)_

Queen _(dancing while glaring at Jester)_: This is how you get your jollies? Pathetic!

Jester (_placing one long-nailed hand against his left breast, assuming a look of horror)_: Pathetic, you say? Well, then, I believe we should step things up a notch. For your next dance, you all shall do the Hammer Da - !"

_(Jester abruptly turns into a little yellow pool ball, and the ball is surrounded by eight more of varying colors. A cue ball rockets towards the first one, and all eight arc out and away before circling back in and slamming into the middle ball containing Jester. The final ball, the plain white cue, causes a massive explosion when it hits, and Jester's charred, lifeless body comes crashing to the floor a moment later)_

Narratina (_in a bored tone)_: Destroyed!

Queen (_looking up towards the ceiling)_: Thanks, Venom!

_(There is a flash of white from the rafters, and the camera focuses on a sheet of long white hair, a blue Eye of Isis marked across the region where the forehead would presumably be. A hand, and a cue-stick, are also in view)_

Venom: Fools such as he give us all a bad name. I don't think anybody will miss him.

Zack: If they're familiar with Capcom's _Devil May Cry_, they will rejoice at his demise.

Akalara _(eyeing the assassin perched on the rafters)_: Hmm...

Queen (_sidles over to her, throws one arm around her shoulders)_: Trust me, Green Girl, you'd be wasting your time and getting him angry. The only person he'll ever get involved with is Zato.

Venom: What was that?

Queen: Nothing important! Just girl-talk.

Clip 5

"You don't have to be alone, Vergil," Akalara murmured. "Kuja beat the odds, didn't he?"

The dark slayer looked away from her, back to the cds in his lap. "Kuja didn't undo the Seal on the Demon World just so he could get at his father's power for the purpose of vengeance. Kuja didn't attempt to murder his younger twin, nor almost succeed. Kuja didn't set free seven demons of terrible power and influence, so he could raise the tower in which the aforementioned Seal lay.

"Kuja isn't a half-breed demon."

Akalara reached out and laid her hand on his shoulder. Vergil didn't even flinch at her touch. "That never mattered to me," she said quietly. "I wouldn't be talking to you like this if it did."

He turned his head slightly, looking at her with one unreadable eye. "You're the only woman who has tried to get close to me. And you've already been claimed by another."

Akalara gave him a long look, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards. "I sort of wish you had been the one to get me pregnant. I mean, Zack's great in bed and all, but I'd love to know how you perform."

Queen: CUT!! Ak, what the hell are you doing?! That's not in the script, and you and Vergil aren't supposed to be anything more than friends, anyway!

Akalara: I can't help it! You've got me on baby hormones for two different productions, and I'm horny! _(crawls over to straddle Vergil)_ Besides, in case you haven't noticed, my 'friend' here is getting a boner.

Vergil (_smiles)_: It's the hormones. Devils like me are turned on by the presence of new, innocent life.

Queen (_facepalms)_: Why me... Fine, go screw yourselves silly. I think Stage 80085 is open right now. In the meantime, SOMEBODY GET ME SOME DASANI!!

_(NCM leaves the camera and zooms away, returning within seconds with a bottle of crystal-clear, ice-cold Dasani water. After Queen has drained half the bottle, Vergil and Akalara slink back onto the set)_

Akalara: Umm... Are there any other sets we could use to fuck?

Queen (_slowly removes the bottle from her lips to stare at the two)_: Why?

Akalara (_fidgeting)_: Because...Xemnas and Saix...are...breaking in...the car?

Queen (_stares)_: You mean they're having sex in the convertible again? On Stage 80085?

Vergil: With much enthusiasm.

Queen (_whoops and jumps out of the chair, grabbing a portable video camera off NCM's shoulder)_: Why the hell didn't you say so?! Hot mansex! HELL YEAH!!

Akalara (_stares after the rapidly-receding dot that is the director flying down the rows of stages)_: She likes yaoi?

Vergil: XemSai happens to be one of her favorites, since there is justification for it. She can't stand most yaoi pairings, since the chances of them ever happening are zero to nil.

Akalara: Well, since she's busy... Wanna go back to my dressing room?

Clip 6

She was virtually helpless as he slid his hands down her torso and to the hem of her skirt. All she could do was plead with him to stop, but her cries were rendered indecipherable by the gag.

Dagger paid no attention to her, anyway. He was busy with flipping up her skirt and tearing off her underwear. "Hmm... Nice here, too. How often does Zack fuck you, Ms. Forrest? Do you love feeling his big cock in your little pussy?" Dagger settled between her thighs, staring down at her most intimate charms. "I have to wonder: how tight are you, after sleeping with him?"

Akalara was making a high-pitched whine now, in the back of her throat, one last desperate attempt at begging him not to rape her. _No. No. No. No. No..._

Queen: And cut! Good acting, people! Dagger, you can put your pants back on now.

Dagger: You mean I don't get to rape her?

Queen (_stares)_: Of course not! In the story you do, but this is just acting. All that's left for this scene is to record Akalara screaming and film the shot of Yvette.

Dagger _(looking down at Akalara)_: Are you sure?

Akalara (_tugging at the ropes)_: Queen... I don't think these are slip-knots. I can't get the ropes off!

Queen (_rising from director's chair)_: You actually thought I was going to let you rape her?

Dagger: We are supposed to portray real life, aren't we? And people get raped every day.

Akalara: Queen!

Queen: You sick fucker... _(yanks a 9mm out of her jeans and shoots a certain protruding appendage. Dagger screams and falls onto the bed, curling tightly with his hands between his legs) _I may write about rape, but no way in _hell _am I going to just sit here and let somebody rape another person! Hey Narratina! Go get Seph and Zack for me, wouldja? I have someone for them to take care of here.

_(Narratina runs off. Queen, snarling curses at the grieviously-injured actor, pulls out a knife and begins cutting Akalara free)_

Queen: Why didn't you say something if the ropes were too tight?

Akalara (_tears brimming)_: I thought it was a part of the act. Remember? You told him to tie slip-knots around my wrists, and that they were supposed look really tight, but I would be able to slip them off once the scene was over. I never got a chance to look at the knots.

Queen (_hugging Akalara and stroking her hair soothingly)_: I'm sorry, Ak. It's not your fault. I thought his background checked out just like all the other OCs'.

(_Zack and Sephiroth arrive, followed by a panting, breathless NCM)_

Sephiroth: What happened?

Queen _(still holding Akalara)_: That asshole was going to rape her for real. Do civilization a favor and get rid of him, would you?

Zack: With pleasure. _(he and Sephiroth stalk over to Dagger while Queen guides Akalara out of the splash zone, Masamune and the Buster Sword gleaming in the stage-lights)_

Queen: C'mon. Let's get you some fresh clothes. Then you can piss on his corpse when they're finished with it.

Akalara _(sniffing and wiping at her eyes while bloody carnage and violence carry on behind them)_: Thanks, Queen. I think I will.

Queen: No problem.

Clip 7

Yvette settled back on her haunches, observing her handiwork with a pleased smile. Her victim bore little resemblence to the beautiful, exotic female Dagger had carried in; her pale skin was covered with slashes and cuts, crisscrossing her front and sides. In some places, the flesh was missing entirely, leftovers from where Yvette had utilized a filleting knife. Her skin was slick with blood, swirled across her body where long fingers had drawn pictures in the crimson spillage. The only area untouched by the knives and blood was her abdomen, the small bulge that held her burden.

"What a lovely mess I've made of you," the blond murmured. "Skin torn away, flesh marred by open wounds, fingers broken, needles beneath the nails..." She gently stroked the green-haired woman's cheek, the caress of a lover. The helpless female made a pathetic sound and weakly turned her head away from the mocking gesture. "He is going to scream when he sees you, Miss Forrest. If not for the hair and eyes, he wouldn't ever recognize you."

Yvette traced circles around the tear-filled cranberry eyes with one long finger. "It's a shame I cannot remove these. But I want you to see how much he pities you, Miss Forrest. I want you to see the revulsion, the torment in his face whenever he looks at you. If he truly loves you, he'll remain with you. But he will never forget the way you used to look, or what he did to me."

Queen: And cut! Okay, people. Half-hour lunch break! Stage 80085 has been claimed by Sephiroth, Vergil, and myself for a threesome, so if you want sex go somewhere else! Stage 80087355 has been claimed by Aerith and Rhianna for a prayer session; if anybody is feeling sullied or unusual or a combination of the two, go seek spiritual cleansing there!

Akalara _(sitting up and wiping fake blood from her face)_: You mean Stage Chastity. No thanks; I'd rather go find heaven on earth with Reno and Zack in a closet somewhere, since you're busy with my man.

Queen: Whatever works. If you need me, I'll be... Hey Yvette, you okay?

Yvette (_turning as green as Akalara's hair)_: I'll be right back! _(races off-stage, sounds of hurling can be heard from a stand of potted plants outside the prop department)_

Queen: What's her problem?

Zack: Blood makes Yvette sick. Seriously, I saw her scratch her pinky on one of the prop swords yesterday, and when she saw the blood she blew chunks everywhere.

Akalara (_motioning to her blood-smeared, naked body)_: If she's so sensitive to the sight of blood, then why is there a distinct lack of puke on me?

Zack: Because it's fake blood. Still makes her upchuck, but she can hold it down a lot easier than she can with normal blood.

Xemnas (_out by the prop department)_: Who ruined the plants?! Marluxia grew these special for Saix and I!

Queen _(walks away towards Stage 80085)_: I don't wanna know. I don't wanna know. I don't...

Clip 8

"Zack..."

The faint whisper stirred Zack from the depths of slumber, and brought him fully awake a split-second later. His violet gaze snapped up to Akalara's face, noting the slitted cranberry eyes with a rush of excitement. "Ak! You're awake!"

"Yeah..." The corners of her lips curled upward slightly before she winced. "Hurts."

"I know, babe. I know." The SOLDIER rolled his thumb over her naked skin once more. "Do you want me to call the nurse?"

"No." Her eyes flew wide open as the bed collapsed beneath her, shaken apart by the dulcet tones of Chumbawamba's "Tub-thumping" booming from the sound booth. Zack, his chair likewise falling apart, sprawled beside her in the wreckage.

Queen: What the HELL just happened?! Who's playing the music?! This is supposed to be a sad, pivotal moment!

Zack _(sitting up and shaking his head to clear his senses)_: That is what happened. Look at the sound booth from over here.

_(Queen frowns and goes to kneel behind Zack. Her eyes widen and she shoots to her feet, cupping her hands around her mouth)_

Queen: Cloud! Tifa! Quit screwing in the sound booth! That's what Stage 80085 is for!

Akalara (_accepts Zack's hand and gets to her feet)_: What's going on?

Zack: Spike and Teef are fucking in the booth. One of 'em musta sat on something.

Akalara (_whips around to stare at the sound booth)_: Wow. Didn't think either of 'em had it in them. If I could hear it, I'd cheer it!

Queen (_gnashing her teeth)_: Narratina, go up there without the microphone and tell them to get their asses out of there. There's expensive equipment in the booth that doesn't need cum or girl-juice on it.

_(Narratina nods and gets up, closing her script and laying it neatly on her chair. Her headphones are placed atop it, and she quietly proceeds up to the sound booth. Queen inhales deeply and cups her mouth again)_

Queen: EVERYBODY COVER THEIR FUCKING EARS!! TINA'S MICROPHONE'S OFF!!

_(Everybody in Dark Queen Cinema dive to the floor and cover their ears tightly as the floors and walls shake, props and lights crash to the floor, and cracks appear in the ceiling when Narratina sternly reprimands the defenseless, horny couple up in the sound booth. The camera's lens cracks, shattering the view. A few minutes later, Narratina calmly exits the stairway leading to the booth, followed by Cloud and Tifa, both of whom are very dishevelled and holding their ears, which seem to be bleeding. As they run off in search of Restore materia, Narratina reclaims her chair and puts her headphones back on)_

Queen (_pressing on an airhorn to get everybody's attention)_: ALERT'S OVER!! RESUME YOUR LIVES!!

Clip 9

"What is the old rule? 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'?" he queried. "Zexion offered us a complete description of the torments suffered by our friend at your hand. If memory serves, the report stated that several areas on her body are currently devoid of skin, and will have to receive grafts in the near future." He adjusted the blade slightly, until the very edge was cutting into the skin layer and no deeper. "I think it's fitting that you suffer just as Akalara did, don't you?"

With that, Masamune was swept smoothly downward. The razored edge of the blade performed the service of a carpenter's plane, removing the top layer of flesh and exposing the slick muscle beneath as Yvette cried out anew. The skin was flicked to the floor and soon joined by more, as Sephiroth continued to skin her legs and arms and stomach. Once he was finished, he spat into her face and joined Gwen against the far wall.

Kuja released Kandi from his arms and glided forward, already whispering a spell. But the incantation died on his lips as he got a good look at Yvette. "Hey Queen?"

Queen: Yes, Kuja?

Kuja: She's dead.

Queen (_launches out of her chair and races onto the set for a closer look)_: She can't be dead! She hasn't signed a liability form!

Sephiroth: I don't believe she was planning on signing one, anyway. You were going to kill her in the next part of the script, remember?

Gwen: By shutting her in an iron maiden.

Queen: That's how she dies in the fic, but this is acting. I mean, these needles are made of rubber and retract back into the stone when there's something against them, just like those needle-things you can buy at Spencer's! Here, lemme show you. _(grabs NCM and has him stand between the two halves of the iron maiden)_ Watch. I close the iron maiden, and... (_pales as the sound of squishing and a choked scream comes from inside the torture device) _Um...

Gwen (_eyes wide)_: You...might not want to open that, Queen...

Reno: Want me to forge her signature?

Queen: Please! His too, if you don't mind. Now I'll have to get a new Yvette before I can finish this thing. And Kuja, how did a real iron maiden get in here? You were supposed to summon the fake one!

Kuja: I focused on the only iron maiden in the storage department! I thought it was the fake one!

_(a man in a brown UPS uniform strolls into the studio, a long wooden crate behind being pushed along by Dante behind him)_

Delivery Boy: Somebody order a fake iron maiden?

Queen: Oh hell.

Clip 10

Mathias ran a hand through his thinning hair, watching a rented SUV glide to a stop in the Fair's driveway with both curiosity and apprehension. He had watched similar vehicles park at the elevated house for two decades now, sometimes at holidays, other times at random times throughout the year.

The doors opened, and four children of various ages, from five to fifteen, tumbled out of the SUV and ran up the path to their grandmother's open arms. Well, all but the oldest one. She slouched up to the house and submitted to a welcoming hug without reaction, hands jammed into the pockets of her black, chain-hung pants. As she hugged her grandmother, the elder of the two boys snuck up behind her. With a cry of "Full moon!" he yanked her pants down, revealing the teen's naked backside. She screamed and quickly pulled her pants back up, but not before the camera got a full view of her flawless white flesh.

Queen: CUT!! Trace, what was that for? That's not in the script!

Trace (_smiling up at Queen)_: Uncle Reno told me to do it.

Akalara: Reno, have you suddenly gone pedophile? Kit's only fifteen!

Reno: It wasn't me! I swear, I didn't tell him to do that! I've been ogling Zafirah; she's not jailbait!

Zack: Keep your paws off my daughter, Red! I mean it!

Reno: I said _ogle!_ I know she's taken; I'm not the type of guy that would steal another dude's chick!

Trace: But it was you! You told me to pull Kit's pants down during lunch break, remember?

Reno: It couldn't have been me. I was having lunch with Axys over at AT's place!

Queen (_whipping out cell phone and hitting Axys' number)_: We'll see about that. Hello, Ax? Yeah, it's Queen. Listen, can I ask you something? Did you have lunch with your father today? _(pauses, eyes widening)_ You're kidding. Seriously? Okay, I want details later. Thanks!

Zack (_glaring daggers at Reno)_: So what's the word?

Queen: Axys confirmed it. Reno had lunch with her at AmazonTurk Productions, then they tag-teamed Stage 69. Reno got with Yuffie, and then when they were finished Axys went in with Bryce.

Akalara: Oookay... That's a bit more than I needed to know. Are you sure it was Reno, Trace?

Trace _(nodding)_: He had bright red hair and aqua eyes. Uncle Reno's the only man I know with those.

Queen: Wait a minute. What was he wearing?

Trace: A black dress. It zipped up the front.

Reno: Are you serious?! He told you to do that?!

Zack (_eyes all makoed up)_: I'm gonna kill him...

Queen: Don't! He may be a pervert, but he's still a friend of mine and an employee. He does have a thing for younger girls, though. Remember his little encounter with Kairi?

Akalara: Bastard... I'll neuter him if I have to...

Reno: What does he have against me? I haven't done a damn thing to him!

Queen: Simple. You're the original redhead. He's a little jealous. Look, can we wrap this thing up? I have another fic to get cracking on.

Zack: Only if I get to kick his ass later.

Queen: As long as no permanent damage is done.

Clip 11

NCM Mach 2: Smile for the camera, Queen!

(_Camera's view catching Queen in a compromising position with Sephiroth and Akalara, under a sign that reads 'Stage 80085'. She lunges for him)_

Queen: YOU SON OF A -

_(screen flickers, fades in and out, and abruptly goes black)_

**Reno: What the hell?! We were just getting to the good part!**

**Dante: Fix the damn projector! We don't want it eating the film!**

**New Voice: The film and the projector are the least of your worries, I am afraid. **

_**(all three men freeze, then slowly turn in their chairs to face the right side of the screen, off-camera. A tall man dressed in a sleeveless black bodysuit and red boots with long blond hair steps into view, his eyes hidden behind a red blindfold held in place by a black strap buckled across the bridge of his nose. Darkness pools and swirls at his feet, small wisps occasionally escaping in the direction of the shocked trio)**_

**Kadaj: Wh-what are you doing here, Zato?  
**

**Zato: Queen found out that some of her film was missing, and sent me to investigate. She also asked me to beat some sense into the empty skulls of the perpetrator, which, I assume, means all three of you.**

**(**_**Dante gets to his feet and reaches for Rebellion, raising it warningly. Though obviously blind, Zato follows his movements with ease)**_

**Dante: How about you just forget what you've seen here? Pretend you found nothing.**

**Zato **_**(smiling evilly)**_**: 'What I've seen'? I cannot forget what I have seen, because I have seen nothing. But I have sensed and heard your guilt, nonetheless. Therefore... **_**(he kneels and leans forward, the fingertips of one hand pressing into the floor, stirring the shadows up)**_** I can still bring you to Queen for punishment. **_**(the shadows arc behind him, up over his head and around his sides, splashing upon Reno, Kadaj, and Dante before they can react. The camera shows only blackness)**_

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

(_uplink successful. Transmission received_)

Queen: Hey, folks! Just wanted to let you know that our three favorite troublemakers are okay. They're in the hospital right now, but they're just fine.

Zato: I didn't kill them, or even harm them very badly. They only knew the shadow's chill until they lost consciousness.

Queen: By the way, I thought I got rid of the Eddie when I brought you back. How did you control the shadows if that monster's gone?

Zato: You removed its consciousness from me, yes. But it lived within my body via a symbiotic environment, remember? A form of xenogenesis was undertaken when it bonded with me, by melding with my cells. Though the Eddie is gone, because a measure of its cells remain bonded with mine, I have retained my ability to control shadows. And the more shadows are present, the greater my power.

Queen (_grinning)_: So you are saying it was most unwise of them to have turned the lights off.

Zato (_returning her smile)_: Exactly.

Queen: Anyway, they'll be all right. More wary of Zato than before, definitely, but they're certain to make a full recovery very quickly. Despite what they told you, those clips were the bad days. I'm not like that all the time! Not even half of the time!

Zato: You're not presenting a very good defense, you know.

Queen (_rolls eyes)_: Anyway, this has been a fun fic to work on. It has been heart-wrenching at times, but I overall enjoyed the experience. I give my thanks to each of the people who worked with me, the characters I love and respect so much, and above all to the reviewers who so faithfully followed the story. You know who you are. Thank you, and see ya in the next fic!

_(transmission ended)_


End file.
